Mio Amante Immortale
by Draca Olympious
Summary: Elizabeth Ward attends Forks High School during the last half of senior year. During this period, she constantly sees swift motions in the shadows, and dreams of one man every night. During her fourth year of college she is in an exchange program, in Volterra, she risks falling into the clutches of the vampire king himself, and she does, making herself a willing slave of passion.
1. Forks Welcomes Me Home

_ Authors Note: My intention with this fanfic is to have a female character somewhat like Bella in the situation she's in, but more realistic to her age, and to be a little more intelligent (for instance, not jumping off cliffs) and independent. Also, only the vegetarian vampires sparkle as an effect of their vegetarianism (I find the sparkling thing so wrong.) The vampires who feed from human blood will experience pain and eventually combust. _

I finished the last of my packing, all of my clothes were snug in the brown trunk that had been a family heirloom. It had antique postage stamps spread all over its leather surface, stamps from countries like Spain and the Philippines. According to my mother, my great grandmother travelled all around the world after her husband died young death in World War Two. My grandmother was born to another man great gran met in England, clearly, my great grandmother must have been seduced by the infamously alluring English accent.

Our family history was rather boring until great gran started her world travels, I wished that I got to meet her, but she passed away before I was born. Great gran was one of those family members whose stories would be passed on from generation to generation. She was a family legend.

One of my favorite stamps on the old trunk was one of a place called Volterra in Italy. Now, that was somewhere I intended to go someday. I looked up photographs online, and it was a beautiful place. A shining sun, a beautiful fountain in the middle of the town square, the large extravagant Volturi Manor that loomed and protected Volterra, and of course the ever so active marketplaces. Volterra was very much alive the way I saw it, it seemed to me like a perfect place to retire.  
Volterra was different than my home of Olympia Washington. Olympia, like other parts of Western Washington, rained constantly during winter and spring. But like Volterra, Olympia was great, especially downtown. There was always something to do in downtown. Shopping, eating, live performances, going down to the docks and allowing yourself to be immersed by the beauty of the harbor.

I was slightly sad, I was going to leave Olympia. My mom had a rather long business trip in China that could take several months. She didn't want me on my own for too long, so she decided to have me live with my dad.

My dad, Frank Ward, was the Deputy Officer in Forks Washington, a small, run down logging down near Port Angeles. It was also near the Olympic rainforest, a place I intended to go...again, and possibly several times during my stay here.

Forks was a very boring place if you were a very boring person my dad always told me. I had to agree with him on that one. There was plenty going on in Forks. One of those was homework, another one of those was the reservation.

My dad was friends with members from the Quileute tribe, as was I. I spent most of my summers on the reservation. My best friends there were Quill and Embry, we always got into crazy shenanigans, especially on the fourth of July. They always got hold of the best (and illegal) fireworks, and if people wanted a good fourth of July, then you had to head down to La Push beach.

Last Summer, I was shocked to see that Bella was back in Forks. I didn't get to talk to her sadly, she was busy with some pretty boy. It wasn't until I had dinner over at Chief Swan's house that I learned the pretty boy was Edward Cullen. I was shocked, I had always perceived Edward as the antisocial type.

The Cullen family moved to Forks a few years or so ago, I had only met Carlisle directly when my dad got a broken arm from a car crash. Carlisle was a perfect gentleman, but he made me weary. Carlisle was one of those too perfect men, smart, handsome, wealthy, best at his job, helps all his kids with homework, probably has a smoking hot wife and she probably ends up having ten orgasms a night or something, I mean, seriously, this guy must have had some sort of disturbing thing he was covering up.

Hopefully, I wouldn't be seeing Carlisle this year, not just because he wigged me out, but also the fact that I didn't want to see anyone I cared about ending up in the hospital. My dad reckons that being the Forks deputy officer, that it would be a long time before he ended up with anything more than a paper cut.

" Elizabeth! We're going to be late!" My mom hollered from downstairs. I closed my trunk and I grabbed my purse. I thumped my way downstairs and ran out the front door that wasn't far from the foot of the stairs. I put my luggage in the car and ran back inside to grab my breakfast, a banana.

My mom stood in the kitchen, she was dressed sharply for her business trip. She wore a sleek black blazer and pencil skirt, a white collared shirt, and a pair of sexy, yet smart black pumps that made her a couple inches taller. She was working a pair of earrings on, desperately trying to kept her very curly red hair out of her way. She was obviously annoyed with this whole ordeal, you could almost see the pits of hell begin to burn in her blue eyes.

Mom finally triumphed with placement of her earring, making a complete pair of two sparkling silver stud earrings. She looked over to me and gave me a smile. She walked over and had me hold some envelopes for her while she made sure all the downstairs lights were off.

" Alright. All the lights are off. We are ready to go. Are you excited Elizabeth?" My mom asked. I nodded. She laughed, it was her skeptical laugh. " I know it's going to be hard, it's your senior year, and you're starting in the middle of the year, but, I am sure that you will make plenty of friends at Forks who aren't Quill and Embry." My mom counseled as we walked out the door.

" I know Bella, the chief's daughter, but she has a boyfriend she is really serious about, I mean scary serious about." I replied. My dad told me stories about how messed up Bella was acting when the Cullen family left six months ago. She tried falling asleep in a forest, she was screaming at night, and she then ran off to Italy without letting Chief Swan know beforehand. My dad, who didn't like Bella's mom very much, said that allowing Bella to live with 'that irresponsible fool' was a bad idea and would screw Bella up.

We had ourselves buckled in and mom had the car started. She was going to drive me up to Forks before she went to the airport. She turned the radio on and was scrolling desperately for something.

" Oh yes, you told me about some of the things your dad told you. She needs to sort out her priorities." My mom said as she finally gave up on the radio and put in a CD of music she listened to in high school, the good ol' 80's.

" He's too much of a pretty boy too. Like American movie star or model, cookie cutter beautiful." I said. My mom laughed as she backed out of our driveway. The rain began to sprinkle on the windshield and she turned on the wipers.

" Hey, I like plenty of those 'cookie cutter' men. If you don't like those classic looks, what are you exactly into?" My mom asked.

" I honestly don't know." I answered. My mom gave me her 'oh really' look.

" Come on, you can do better than that Elizabeth." My mom said.

" Alright, alright. Hmm, tall is a nice quality. How about…slender, nice voice. Different features, unique ones. Wait, David Tennant." I replied with a smug smile, I was in love with Doctor Who, and I was excited for Ten to appear in season three, what would he do without Rose Tyler? My mom sighed.

" I will never understand you Elizabeth." She stated. " But, I think it's great you'll give the ugly boys a chance too." She said jestingly. I blushed in embarrassment and gave her a small nudge with my elbow. That was a classic mom line.

On the rest of the car ride, my mom and I discussed petty matters and I looked for any animals on the way to Forks that weren't common in Olympia. So far, we saw a skunk, a dead, half devoured skunk on the side of the road. Praise the lord we didn't have our windows down.

You could see the Olympic mountains much closer now, you could see the mountains if you were near the downtown Olympia waterfront. They were always the purest of whites at the peaks, where snow probably glistened like diamonds, the pale lavender gray rock gave a calmer vibe under the glistening snow. My dad climbed those, and Mount Rainier, my dad loved doing things outside, in the winter if he got some decent time off, he and a few buddies would to up to Alaska and go fishing. Fishing was my dad's favorite pastime. I occasionally would go with him, as long as it wasn't raining too hard.

We were approaching Forks now, and it was raining bullets. The clouds that loomed over our heads were darker and thicker than the ones we left behind in Olympia. I could see the Forks Washington sign in the distance as it proclaimed its tiny population. My mom put a hand on my shoulder.

" We're here." She said as her hand stroked up and down the side of my arm. I looked her in the eyes and smiled, though my mom wasn't talking, I knew exactly what she was thinking just my looking into her eyes. Her eyes were like windows to her mind, and she had the capability to close off those windows as well, which was why she was a successful businesswoman.

We drove through the down, it was dreary as always, but it was the kind of dreary I could live with, it was the dreary that made you want to cuddle up by a fire with a cup of tea and read a book. I liked Forks, but I would desperately miss Olympia in my absence.

We were finally here at my dad's house, which was a few blocks from the school. It was a small, white house that was well taken care of in the exterior, the moss was eradicated from the roof, and the paint which my dad applied two summers ago still had a small tad of luster.

My dad was already outside. He was a bulky man of average height, but he always carried himself in a way that made him seem much taller that his five foot eight. He had just started balding, but wore a baseball cap to disguise it. His face was cleanly shaved, not a common sight for him.

When I got out of the car, my dad gave me a bear hug.

" Hey Liz." My dad said.

" How's it going dad?" I asked.

" It's going good now that I got my kid with me." He said, letting me out of the hug, he turned to see my mom. They were divorced, but they were civil. " Loretta." He said, they gave each other a quick hug.

" Frank." My mom said with a curt nod, telling him to stop hugging her. They may have been civil, but they still had a hard time talking to each other without making it awkward. " I trust you have all her medical information, her registration to school is taken care of, and she will have a means to transportation." My mother said, raising an eyebrow. My dad laughed heartily, I went into the backseat of my mom's car and got my luggage and set it by my feet.

" All of those are taken care of." My dad replied. " Speaking of transportation, Hey Elizabeth, go pull that tarp off and then tell me that I'm an awesome dad." He added. My face lit up in excitement.

" No way!" I said, my dad nodded and my mouth dropped. I started running over to the tarp, I pulled it off to reveal a silver Lumina from the 90's that looked in good condition. I was stoked, my own car, finally! " This is brilliant! Thanks so much dad!" I cheered, running back to him and hugged him possibly tighter than he had me earlier.

" Your welcome kiddo. According to the officers at the station, their kids typically don't like to be dropped off at school in a police car, nor do they like to walk in the pouring rain." My dad said with a wink. My mom and I laughed.

" Well, I need to get going, the airplane isn't going to wait for me." My mom said, her arms open for me to hug her. I did, and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. " I'm going to miss you so much. Email me as much as possible."

" I will. I'm going to miss you so much." I said. My mom stopped our hug and opened the car door.

" You better take care of her, you hear me?" My mom said to my dad, pointing her car key at him like a weapon. My dad nodded and gave her a thumbs up. She slipped into the car and drove off slowly. I stood watching until her car was out of sight, she was very careful of going exactly the speed limit around dad.

This was the start to a very small, but probably happy chapter in my life. My hair started getting soaked from the rain, and now putting my hood up would be in vain. I smiled and looked at a few houses down the street, which is where Charlie, and now Bella lived. I would have to go say hi, probably would get to see Charlie, and also Billy Black really soon, I could just sense it was a fishing weekend coming up.


	2. Settling In

_When it mentions a 'Dicks,' I'm talking about a burger chain that is popular in Seattle, not a penis. There will be some Washington culture in this, for I am a Washingtonian. I'll explain the references in my author's note._

My dad grabbed my trunk and carried it inside and up the stairs for me. I walked up behind him, taking my jacket off and hanging it on my arm. My dad opened the door to my room out of chivalry, and I walked in.

My room was small, there was a bed by the window that was adorned with old faded sheets and a blanket with a wolf pattern that Sarah Black made for me before she died six years ago. I missed her, she was a kind soul, always giving, and a brilliant artist, her watercolors were beautiful, in fact, I had one hanging just above my desk, it too involved wolves, which were running under a full moon on a starry night.

" This dresser is new." I said, stroking the new oak dresser that originally had been a smaller maple one.

" Yeah, you told be about the drawers on the old one, I tried to see if I could get Embry to fix it, since you know how he is with wood, but Embry told me that the old dresser was just too beat up to repair, so he made that one." My dad said with a pause. I looked at the dresser and smiled, I would have to thank Embry when I saw him later. " Oh!" My dad said abruptly, making me jump a little. " I also have another surprise for you, I couldn't show it to you while mom was here. I'll be right back." My dad said, walking out of my bedroom with a spring in his step.

I smiled, dad was always happy when I was here, but I heard from Charlie and Billy that when I wasn't, he tended to get lonely and rather quiet when not out fishing with them. So this wasn't just good for me, this was good for him too. I always found it easy to talk to my dad, we could talk about anything. Heck, he even made the sex talk not completely uncomfortable, mostly because he made it funny. He made several Mean Girls references, which of course, the lines of Tina Fey were complete brilliance.

Now my mom's version on the other hand was very serious and completely un-Tina-Fey-ish. It was sort of like having a drill sergeant try to convince you to never have sex almost.

My mom when it came to topics that weren't how my day went or something petty like that were in the realm of drill sergeant, she was a very headstrong person, and when someone didn't agree with her, she would not be happy. It was a trait that was good at some times, but generally landed me in my room grounded, all because I was passionate about my side of the argument when we didn't see eye to eye.

Oh well, those were moms, and dads too, except for mine, mine was laid back, he didn't care as long he knew I was out and I'd be safe. Living with my mom most of the time, I was more used to giving my mom more details if I was going places. Even though I know I would just have to tell my dad I was heading out, I tended to give him all the details of where I was going, what I was doing, and what time I would get back, which was no biggie for him, though he probably wouldn't remember most of the details.

I could hear my dad's boots clomp ascending the scuffed up wooden stairs. I walked out of my room to see my dad holding a very large cat, it was a long bluish grey haired cat with yellow green eyes, it looked like it was some sort of Persian mix, but it looked larger than a Persian.

I couldn't believe my eyes, my dad got me a cat! I never had a furry animal of my own since my mom was allergic to dogs and cats. This animal was beautiful, it's large eyes looking right at me, gazing curiously at my unwavering smile.

" That is a beautiful animal!" I said, wide eyed with wonder. My dad handed me the behemoth of a cat, and I held it in my arms, its fur tickling my skin, and its mighty purr rumbling.

" I got him at the shelter a week ago, I thought it was time to get something furry in this house. The cat is particularly kind, whenever I watch some football, it comes to the couch and pretty much is like a furry furnace." My dad said. I chuckled, I could see the comparison of this cat to a fluffy furnace, heat radiated off my new feline friend.

" Does he have a name?" I asked. My dad shook his head. I looked at the cat, wondering what would be a good name for him.

" Nope, I thought I'd allow you to do the honors." My dad said. I smiled, I had just found a good name for this cat. It wasn't a name like Mittens or Snowbell, but the name just fit him like Cinderella and the glass slipper.

" Salavat, it's a good Russian name." I said. My mom was fluent in Russia, as well as Mandarin Chinese, which is why she was sent to China, she was helping translate and negotiate a meeting involving the most important potential partnership her work ever had. Mom had been to Russia many times for a week or so, but this trip had the potential to keep mom in China for four months to a year.

" If you say so." My dad said rolling his eyes. " You and your names. I remember we got all those guppies when you were five, and you named them all after Disney Princesses." My dad said. I giggled, remembering a much younger me dressed in my princess costume twenty four seven, having a tea party with stuffed animals and tank of guppies.

" Speaking of fish, are you going fishing this weekend?" I asked. My dad nodded. " Oh sweet, maybe not this weekend, but one near in the future, mind if I tag along?" I asked. My dad smiled and patted me on the back.

" Of course you can! I've still got your rod and gear in the garage. But something you'll have to do is make your fish spice." Dad said. I smiled, feeling better that I could redeem the lack of my world (meaning Dad, Charlie, and the Quileutes) famous fish spice. It was fairly simple and worked for all fish, but was especially good on salmon and halibut.

" Oh yes, I feel bad about not making it last summer, I'll do a double batch." I said. I put Salavat down and I pranced downstairs and looked to see what we had in the kitchen cabinets. I saw about three quarters of the spices I needed. I looked in the fridge, to see Rainer Beer, and no vegetable or fruit matter of any kind.

" Okay, so those spices, spices I need, and some plant matter." I mumbled to myself, I shut the refrigerator door, ripping off a note from a shopping list pad that was magnetized to the refrigerator. I wrote down what I needed.

" Hey dad! What meat do you want tonight, I was kind of leaning on chicken." I shouted up the stairs. I could hear the loud clomp of my dad's boot descending down the stairs.

" I was thinking we could go to the diner tonight, but chicken sounds good for tomorrow." My dad answered. I wrote it down on my shopping list. I took a stray magnet on the fridge and hung my shopping list on it.

" Okay, I'll just go shopping tomorrow. I should probably get myself settled before I do much else." I said. " I'll be in my room if you need anything." I said to dad before prancing back up the stairs.

I opened the old trunk and started unpacking, putting all my folded clothes into the new oak dresser, which I still had more than enough room for other clothes if I did some shopping in Port Angeles, or went back to Olympia for a little downtown experience. I had packed my backpack in my trunk, filled with everything I needed for school and set it down by my desk. My backpack however felt a little light without some things to help maintain something I had to sacrifice coming here.

That thing was my string bass, since Forks didn't have a music program, it was just about pointless to haul the thing. I was sad to leave my orchestra class behind in Olympia, we were playing Mozart's Divertimento, a relatively easy, but fun piece to play. At least there was another bass player in my class to carry on the part, even though we shared the same notes with the cellos.

But it wasn't too long a wait until I was playing my bass again, there was college up ahead, and I have gotten scholarship offers because of my bass, and some of them were not bad in terms of how much they would pay for me. Washington State offered a six thousand dollar scholarship, which among other things, made me wish to go to WSU. It was instate, so less expensive, I had a six thousand dollar scholarship for it, and it was a good school that was far enough away from my parents and hometown, but still close.

When done unpacking, I slid my trunk underneath my bed. I stood around, looking around for something else I could do in the room, but the search had no result besides that my room was fine and that I should probably stop standing around like an idiot.

Later, my dad and I were at the diner, having ourselves some steak and burgers. This diner was one of those childhood landmarks for me, the food was crappy for your average person, but if you felt nostalgia, it was good.

" So, have you found a college yet?" My dad asked. I was chewing some food, so it took a little bit to reply, I didn't want to seem rude.

" I applied for WSU not too long ago, I should probably hear back from them soon. I also have a scholarship from them too." I said.

" Your mom told me about that. They had better accept you, that scholarship is too good to waste." My dad replied. I nodded.

" I'm excited for college, high school is getting a little tedious." I said. " At least on Monday it'll get a little less tedious, it'll definitely be new."

" Have you heard about the Seattle killings lately?" My dad asked. I nodded. My orchestra had a field trip planned to Seattle just a month ago, but they cancelled because of all the killings.

" Yeah, it's all over the news. I got a field trip cancelled because of them. Also, one of the people who were killed went to my school, they were on a DECA field trip, and they were out with some friends looking for a Dicks, and they got abducted by something." I said.

" Did you know them?" My dad asked. I shook my head. " Ah."

" Yeah, I think it was a sophomore who got killed."

" Listen to me, if you go to Seattle, you're grounded." My dad said, there was nothing jesting about how he said it, he was completely serious. I nodded.

" Don't worry, I do not wish to die before I graduate." I said, taking a sip of water, coughing as it went down my windpipe instead of my esophagus.

" You alright?" My dad asked. I nodded as I coughed a little more, tears welling up around my eyes and my face turning a shade redder.

" Yeah, I guess my epiglottis failed me on that one." I replied with one more little cough.

The waitress walked to our table and took away our empty plates, my dad paid and tipped her, and we were out the door. On the way to the car however, I saw this thing speed right in front of dad and I. I couldn't make out a shape, it was just a speeding blur.

" Holy shit! Did you see that?" I asked. My dad gave me a scolding look.

" Language young lady, and no, what did you see?" My dad asked.

" This thing just sped right in front of us, it was too blurry to make out anything. How did you not see it?" I asked. My dad shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

" Well, I guess either you're seeing things, or your old man needs to get some glasses." My dad said, his lips curving into a smug smirk. " Personally, I think you're seeing things." My dad added, laughing at my initial reaction. I elbowed him in the arm and laughed with him.

Dad and I got to the car and drove back home. When we got there, dad sat down on the couch to watch some football with a can of Rainier while I went upstairs to charge my phone. I laid down on the bed, looking out at the sunset and pouring rain as I listened to my IPod. I allowed myself some time to think about how school would be like and if there was anything else I really needed at the grocery store, which I then realized I had no pads or tampons, which are sort of important when you're a female. I would have to write it down in the morning, but for now, I was exhausted, and dozing off seemed like a more agreeable option.

When I eventually did fall asleep, I saw this dark corridor, a man was standing all the way on the other side. I walked down and looked him right in the eyes. His eyes were a blue color, and there was nothing natural about them. His coal black hair was long, some was kept out of his face by a hairclip. His skin was a stark contrast to his hair, it was white, a white paler than pure, it was too haunting to be pure. His tall, slender frame was clad in black robes and silver armor which seemed to blend together. He looked like some evil warrior in a magical universe.

There was a frightening howling noise, which made my subconscious self's heart bound. I could see a hairless, doglike beast larger than any wild animal I had ever seen charge right at the mysterious warrior and I. The man pulled a sword from its black leather sheath and slit the animal's throat. But when the animal died, it wasn't a beast, it was human. The warrior looked at me and walked closer, his hand cupping my cheek, his lips curving into a sympathetic smile.

" I am sorry, but it would have hurt you." The man said, his voice a melodic Italian accent.

I woke up, sitting upright on my bed, it was midnight. I shook my head as it rested in my hand.

" What the hell is wrong with my subconscious?"


	3. First Day

The weekend had passed quickly, while dad was off fishing I got myself settled in and I had decent food in the fridge, as well as some batches of my fish spice. I had plans to go visit La Push this next weekend. But for now, I was preparing myself for a first day at a new school.

My alarm clock woke me cruelly at six in the morning. With that I got myself showered and dressed with early morning clumsiness. When I finally got downstairs, I saw that my dad was sitting on the sofa with a copy of _The Seattle Times_, his old white mug on the coffee table.

If the mug wasn't in his hand, it meant all of the coffee was gone. My dad always had black coffee, it was the very cheap stuff too so it tasted like motor oil. I could tolerate black coffee if it was high quality, the low quality stuff I added as much cream and sugar as I could. I rarely drank coffee though, I didn't find myself the time to make it.

" Mornin' Liz." My dad greeted from the living room.

" Good mornin' dad. Anything happened in Seattle lately?" I asked . My dad folded up his newspaper, which also meant he was done with it. He sighed and looked at the ground.

" More killings. I called your mom to make sure she was alright, and she's fine. But these killings had better end soon, or at least before she lands back in Seattle." My dad said. " Also there's stupid politicians who are more focused about stupid campaigns and roads than the people who are getting abducted." Dad added.

" They'll find this killer soon, don't worry. Like you told me when I was little, killers always leave evidence behind, and for this one in particular, he probably has left quite a lot that will lead to his demise." I said.

" Yeah, I guess I can at least be happy that Forks is just about crime free." Dad said. I grabbed a banana and sat next to dad on the couch.

" I guess that's all we can do." I replied. " This is a rather depressing subject, and the first day of school will already be depressing enough." I added.

" C'mon, I'm sure you'll make friends. New students tend to get a lot of attention in Forks." My dad said with a laugh.

" So more people will be willing to help me find my classes. I love this place." I said. Dad laughed again.

" See, you'll make friends. I think you and Angela Webber should get acquainted. Her father's the pastor at the Lutheran church not too far from the diner, they're good folks." My dad said. I nodded, smiling slightly.

" Yeah, I'll look into that. Thanks."

At seven thirty, I said goodbye to my dad and drove to Forks High School. The parking lot was filled with older, slightly weathered cars, mine fit in just fine. I walked into the school, getting some looks of 'oh, I don't know this person, must be the new girl.'

I got my schedule and other information all taken care of at the office and I still had fifteen minutes to spare. I stood around, rather bored, allowing myself to drift into my own thoughts, that was until I heard a voice.

" Hi, you must be Elizabeth Ward." A boy's voice said. I brought myself back into reality to see a tall Asian boy wearing more professional clothes than the rest of the student body. He had somewhat greasy hair and had a bad case of acne. But his warm, welcoming smile made up for all of it.

" Yes I am." I replied. The boy smiled and held out his hand for me to shake, which his offer was accepted..

" I'm Eric Yorkie, Forks High School's student body president and newspaper editor, and you baby are front page news!" He said, a girl next to him snapping a picture of me with a really nice camera. " Over next to me is Angela Weber, she does photography for the paper." Eric added. The girl called Angela smiled.

" I'll take another picture of you, you'll be ready this time, the other one didn't turn out so well." Angela said, allowing me to prepare myself for another picture. Angela looked to see if the picture was alright and smiled, giving me a thumbs up. I shook her hand as well.

" Nice to meet you both. My dad told me about you Angela, your dad is a pastor at the church just past the diner right?" I asked. Angela nodded.

" Yeah, your dad and mine are pretty good friends. But, on with that, do you mind answering some questions for the feature?" Angela asked. I nodded.

" That's totally cool. Hit me." I said. Eric and Angela looked at each other and smiled.

" Favorite color?" Eric asked.

" Blue." I replied. Eric was writing this down on a notepad as I spoke.

" Extra curriculars?" Angela asked.

" String Bass." I answered.

" Favorite food?" Eric asked.

" Gnocchi." I replied

I was asked many more simple questions until this whole ordeal was done. I also had to tell my aspirations and inspirations, etc, etc . Once this whole interview was over, four others joined our group.

" Hey Eric, I see you got the new girl!" A blond haired boy said to Eric, his arm around a girl with light brown hair and a pink shirt.

" Yeah, just finished our interview for the feature Mike." Eric replied. Mike looked at me like I was something very different.

" This girl let you do the feature?" He asked Eric. Eric and Angela nodded with grins on their faces. Eric's arm went around Angela's waist, apparently they were a couple also. Mike turned over to me. " Oh yeah, I'm Mike by the way, and this is Jessica, my girlfriend. Over there is Tyler and Lauren." Mike introduced everyone in our little circle.

" Nice to meet you all. I didn't expect this place to be so friendly." I said, I was blushing a little bit, flattered from all the attention that had just been drawn to me.

" Well, you're a new student, and you're totally cool with Eric and Angela because they finally got to do something else besides running editorials on teen drinking." The dark skinned boy, Tyler, said.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bella walk in with her boyfriend. I couldn't believe she didn't dump him, with all the pain he caused her. Jake was a much better match for her, the only thing he was done 'wrong' to Bella was protecting her from herself. This pretty boy she was dating was obviously not healthy for her.

" Oh, if you're wondering. That's Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, they are so much of a thing it's creepy, if you split them apart, Bella falls into this crazy depression and stuff." Jessica told me. I looked back at her and nodded.

" I know Bella, we were friends when I was little." I told her. " I don't know Edward, but what I've heard about him, I don't like him one bit."

" I don't really like him either." Mike said. Eric nodded at Mike in agreement. I then realized this, they had both had crushed on Bella at one time and were rejected probably. Bella had to reject the decent guys for the pretty rich boy who obviously was the biggest douche bag on the planet.

" I think he's alright, he just needs to be less territorial." Angela said.

" Good point I guess. I've only spoke to Dr. Cullen, but he wigged me out." I told them. " In fact, all the Cullens sort of wig me out." I added when I saw the rest come in.

" They wig out everyone, don't worry about it." Lauren assured me. I looked at her and smiled. Lauren was very pretty, pretty enough to be a model, she had the look about her. I on the other hand, was nowhere near skinny enough to be a model.

" Mike! Are you excited to kick some Bulldogs in the ass?" Tyler asked Mike. Mike got really pumped up.

" Hell yeah. Montesano won't know what hit them!" Mike shouted back. Both of the boys gave themselves high fives and fist bumps. " Spartans!"

" Oh, yeah, there's a basketball game against Montesano tonight, wanna go? They're Forks' rivals." Jessica told me. I nodded.

" Yeah sure! It's been a while since I've gone to a game." I replied smiling. Everyone was so nice here, it made this sudden change a whole lot easier, I was grateful. I wasn't the most popular kid in my old high school, but I still had plenty of close friends. I tended to attract the attentions of people, and as vain as it sounds, I found it nice, made me feel more confident than if I only had a few people around me. I loved people, and I tended to be a people pleaser sometimes.

" Oh sweet, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to publish the article to get your opinion about the game!" Angela said. I nodded.

" That's cool, I can do that. Whatever you need of me." I said, my smile was wide and even if I tried, I couldn't stop.

" So, what classes do you have?" Eric asked. I looked at my list and read them off.

" European History, Calculus, PE, Bio III, English, and Italian."

" Oh sweet, I'm in all your classes except English!" Angela said cheerfully. " Eric's with us in Calc and Italian. Jessica and Mike are with us in PE."

" That's great, fantastic! Umm, Angela right?" I said, sort of forgetting their names for a second, I wanted to be sure.

" Yeah?" She asked. I mentally patted myself on the back, I remembered.

" Can you show me where first period is. I didn't get a map." I told her. She nodded, looking at Eric and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

" I'll see you second period." Angela said smiling, Eric went in for a kiss on her lips. After his peck, she giggled, adjusting her white glasses and then showing me to the European history class.

We walked down the hallway, where I noticed lockers, I wondered if it was like my school where they were optional. The fluorescents made everyone else look paler than they really were. It wasn't too much different from my old high school, it just wasn't as bright and bold, the school also looked like it hadn't been remodeled since it was built.

" Okay, I'll give you a brief survival guide when it comes to teachers. Mrs. Brown, the European History teacher, she is strict, but fair, it's probably best if you go in perfect angel when around her. Always do notes every night, because at the end of each chapter she grades them. Mr. Varner, he is awesome beyond all belief, greatest math teacher ever, he gives little homework but has hard tests, the only people who don't like him, don't like math. Then there's Coach Clapp, he's really easy going, but tends to favor anyone who is on his sports teams. Mr. Molina, also another amazing teacher. Now, who do you have for English." Angela peeped over my shoulder to look at my schedule. " Ah, Mr. Berty is alright, has a dreadful homework load though. Miss Moretti is great, she's actually from Italy, half the time she rants about how the textbooks we're given are wrong and has us make corrections." Angela explained as we walked into Mrs. Brown's classroom. Angela set her backpack down on her desk. " I'm going to go back to see Eric, we still have five minutes." She said, waving me goodbye.

" Good morning Angela." Mrs. Brown called out to her. Angela replied before going back out into the hall to find Eric. The woman sitting at her desk grading papers was a heavyset middle aged woman, she wore a tasteful amount of makeup compared to others her age, and her hair had the roller curl look to it. Overall, she looked like someone who was very kind. She looked over at me and gave me a warm, happy smile. " You must be the new student from Olympia aren't you? She asked. I nodded. She stood up from her desk and hobbled over to me.

" I'm Mrs. Brown." She said, holding out her hand for me to shake. She adjusted her thin rimmed spectacles and hobbled back to her desk. " I suppose I need to find you a place to sit." She said, picking up a clipboard she had, flipping though papers until she found the one she needed. " There's a place right up front dear." She told me, gesturing to the seat. I set my backpack down.

" Thank you. May I have a textbook please?" I asked her. She pointed over to a bookshelf where I saw six remaining textbooks on European History. " Thanks Mrs. Brown." I said, walking over to grab my textbook and sitting down at my desk. I waited and watched as other students started pouring into the classroom.

I was a little disappointed that Angela was in the middle row, I couldn't ask questions without it being too awkward. It was the first day though, I would probably get to know the rest of the students before the week was done.

My first few classes drawled a little bit, except for calculus. I was seated next to Alice Cullen, who I ended up liking a lot by the time the period ended. She was definitely someone I would love to go shopping with in Tacoma or Seattle, she honestly made fashion into an art.

It was now lunch, and I lost Angela in the hall, she walked faster than I did. I found the lunch line and got a tray of mystery substance.

I looked around the cafeteria, feeling very lost. I slightly gave up, looking out the window to see that the great outdoors was showing grey skies and pouring rain. I sighed and continued my quest for a table, which is when I saw Bella walking around with Edward.

" Bella!" I shouted, trying to get her attention. She looked over at me and gave me a tiny bit of acknowledgement. I walked over to her and gave her a hug. She hugged me back, but it wasn't a very honest hug.

" Hey Elizabeth. Umm, how's it going? I totally didn't know you were coming here." Bella said.

" Yeah, my mom's on a long term business trip in China, so I'm chilling over here with my dad until she gets back." I looked over at Edward. I hesitated, but I felt as if I should at least say hello and not be totally hostile. " You must be Edward?" I asked him.

" Yes. It's nice to meet you." He said with a gentlemanly smile. I smiled back, though it was fairly fake, in all actuality, I wanted to punch him for what he put Bella through.

" Nice to meet you too." I said.  
" Elizabeth!" I heard a familiar voice call out. I turned towards where the sound came from and saw Eric waving to me. I smiled, there was a chair next to him and Mike that he was patting.

" Oh, gotta go. Nice seeing you Bella, nice meeting you Edward." I said before walking away to the other table, sitting down and getting myself situated. When I took a bite of the mystery substance, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I would start packing lunches.

" I didn't know you knew Bella." Jessica said.

" I knew her when I was really young, we used to play down at the res." I said.

" Speaking of the res, I hear it's a good time of year to surf, wanna come this weekend?" Angela invited me. I nodded.

" Defiantly! I haven't been to La Push since last summer." I replied with a small laugh. " I seriously need to meet up with Quil and Embry now that I'm here." I added.

" Those two are so hilarious." Mike said with enthusiasm. Jessica rolled her eyes.

" They put seaweed in my dry clothes, they are so not cool." Jessica said jokingly, hitting Mike playfully. I couldn't help but giggle.

" That is so Quil and Embry. I'll apologize for them." I replied laughing. " I remember this one time that I was surfing and when I was ready to get my dry clothes on, I found them all hanging in trees." I said, reminiscing their pranks on me. I tried pulling pranks on them, very few of them were successful, and when I mean by very few, I mean one.

" Oh, did you see the whole Edward V.S. Jacob thing in the parking lot this morning?" Tyler asked. I shook my head. " Oh man! It was awesome! Jacob's macho man, but I think Cullen could kick his ass." Tyler said. Mike started shaking his head.

" No way Tyler. Jacob is a hard ass, he could take Cullen down with his pinky. I mean c'mon, he's a Quileute who rides motorcycles and is more buff than most wrestlers. Cullen is just a rich pretty boy who would probably start crying." Mike said. My eyes widened a little bit, he really didn't like Edward, he disliked him more than I did.

" I'd like to see you have a go at him." Tyler said laughing. Mike pursed his lips and simply gave up. " Or would you cry in the face of Cullen?" Tyler said, laughing even louder.

" You know what, I'm sure I could take Cullen any day. But, today is not the day." Mike said. " I've gotta save my energy for the big game tonight!" Mike said, saving his cowardice. I laughed, that was a fantastic cover up.

Lunch passed by, the conversations were easy to get involved and keep up in. I felt in my comfort zone, definitely something I didn't expect to feel on my first day. After a while, I sort of spaced out., and when coming out of my trance, I looked at the analog clock that hung on the cafeteria wall.  
" When is next period?" I asked.

" Twelve thirty." Eric answered. I looked at the clock again, and sure enough, it was twelve twenty four.

" We got a minute before passing period. I'm gonna to get going. I have English on the other side of the school." I said, standing up.

" I'll go with you, I have English next too." Jessica said, standing up, giving Mike a kiss on the cheek before following me to my next class.

As I walked, I sort of spaced out, thinking about irrelevant nothings. I accidentally bumped into one of the Cullens, the blond one who looked like he was in pain.

" Watch where you're going." He snarled. I looked him in the eyes, they were onyx, too black to be natural. I had an instinct telling me to run away and hide, but, the Cullen boy moved away first, taking his pixie like girlfriend with him.

" Wow, he's a jerk." I said bluntly.

" They kind of all are jerks. You'll get used to it." Jessica said.

" I like Alice, I sit next to her in calc. I was talking about the res and she got a little twitchy, like it was the worst thing I could have said."

" Weird. I hear they are rivals and stuff like that. Probably because of Bella and her total freak out session after the Cullen's left at the beginning of the school year. Bella hung out with Jacob while the Cullen's were gone."

" I heard the whole Bella story from my dad, and my god, she needs to sort out what's important in life. Then Quil and Embry told me that she jumped off a cliff to see Edward." I said. Jessica widened her eyes.

" I didn't hear that before, but I am honestly not surprised. When we were in Port Angeles, she totally got on this creepy dude's motorcycle and rode off with him." Jessica said.

" Don't you guys have anything better to do besides gossiping about Bella?" A voice said, scolding us in a beautiful female voice. I jumped out of surprise, turned around, and saw one of the Cullen girls. She was the tall blond one, Sports Illustrated type.

" Do you have anything better to do besides not eavesdropping into other people's conversations?" Jessica snapped at her. The Cullen girl gave Jessica a glare, it was the very glare that death would give if it had been cheated.

" Come on Jessica, she isn't worth it." I told her. Jessica walked away with me, leaving the Cullens behind and talking about much more important things, like basketball and the fact prom was coming up soon.


	4. Games and Letters

When I got home from school, I literally pranced through the door and started dancing around, today had been quite spectacular. My dad wasn't home yet, he would be home in about two hours, which was good, I could tell him all about today before the basketball game at 6:30 pm. Until then, I had a large pile of homework I needed to conquer first.

I grabbed myself a snack and headed upstairs for some homework time. I threw my heavier than fuck book bag down on my bed and got my laptop set up to type an essay about continuous and non-continuous genetic traits in humans. We had the choice whether to type our essays about genetic disabilities or continuous or non-continuous genetic traits in humans, I decided on the latter. Mr. Molina gave us some really good websites to go to find information on which topic, and as usual, Wikipedia was a stigmatized source.

I put in a CD into the old stereo/radio in my room and the music eventually became background noise to my essay typing, the essay was due on Thursday, so I had plenty of time. I decided to do the essay in chunks, so I worked about a half and hour give or take on the first third of my essay before moving onto the forty minutes of handwritten European History textbook notes, this textbook was older than the one at my old high school, but then again, small town schools didn't get as much funding. After finishing my notes, out of curiosity, I flipped to the section on the protestant reformation, and at least this book didn't say Martin Luther was German, Germany wasn't an established country in that time period!

Calculus was a breeze, Mr. Varner allowed us half the class period to work on our homework, and he didn't assign very many problems. Angela was right about him being awesome, he pulled out some of the classic calculus jokes, like don't drink and derive. My personal favorite calculus joke was one my calculus teacher at my old school told us, was the Optimus Prime joke.

Dad got home, and made some dinner, I ate while doing my reading of Wuthering Heights for English, which was the final piece of my homework. Dad sat across from me at the dinner table. We talked about how my day went, which just proved that he was right (something he definitely bragged about.) He was happy that I had made friends easily. He told me to have fun at the basketball game, and that the Spartans would beat the Bulldogs.

I had a few dollars in my pocket for the admission and concessions. I grabbed a warmer coat, dad had told me it was supposed to get to twenty tonight. I got all my stuff together and drove off to the high school.

There more people than I expected, but then I had to remember, this was a game between rivals, people wanted to see the opposing team's ass kicked. I got in quicker than any of the games at my old high school, which was nice, because the bleachers weren't so crowded, and it was easy to get up to my new friends. I eventually got caught up on the conversation.

Jessica was talking to Angela and Lauren about how hard Mike had been working for this game, since they had lost to Montesano last year. Working hard eventually turned into abs, which according to Jessica, Mike was ripped. Lauren talked about Tyler's abs, and Angela swooned at the idea of Eric having a six pack. Jessica asked me who's six pack really impressed me.

" I've never been really big on abs really." When I said that, Jessica's jaw literally dropped, and Angela's eyes went wide. I wasn't surprised they were shocked, I mean how many teenage girls did you meet who weren't swooning over washboard abdominal muscles?

" Are you lying?" Lauren asked. I shrugged.

" Nope. I personally find tallness more attractive." I said. Jessica gave a sigh of relief.

" Phew, at least you like your men tall. But how? I don't understand." Jessica said, looking confused. I laughed. " But you wouldn't totally say no if there was a guy with abs right?" Jessica asked.

" No, of course not. I just like personality, and tallness. I just am not turned on by simply the sight of abs." I explained. " If I was, I wouldn't be able to go to Quileute res without getting all hot and bothered." I added. We laughed at my little addition.

" Oh my god, that is so true. I mean even in the middle of winter, guys running around shirtless and beautiful." Angela said giggling. " The tribe could totally charge people to go on the res and women would definitely pay in full. Forks would become a tourist destination."

The game started, everyone was quite excited. There was loud cheering that filled the basketball court, my voice included. We got off to a pretty good start, scoring three in the first quarter and Montesano only scoring one. In the middle of the second half, Montesano got a penalty for getting a little too rough. Right before the end of the second half, Montesano scored again.

Jessica, Angela, Lauren, and I went to the concessions stand and got a large box of popcorn to share. I then realized that I hadn't seen Eric. I asked Angela about it, she pointed him out, he was right next to Coach Clapp, writing down frantically what had occurred so far.

We all started giggling about this Montesano player's butt, which even I had to admit was not a bad butt in the slightest. I found the perfect opportunity to crack a joke.

" Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. If you know what I mean?" I said quietly to them. Angela gasped.

" Liz! Who ever thought you could be so dirty?" Jessica said, laughing hysterically.

" Oh! You have no idea." I told her, wiggling my eyebrows around creepily.

All of a sudden, there was a loud 'boo' which scared the living shit out of us. Mike started laughing like a maniac, took Jessica up in his arms, and swung her around. It was really cute, well, they were really cute together. I couldn't help but smile.

" Mike! Don't scare me like that!" Jessica whined, pouting as she looked into Mike's eyes. He grinned and kissed her on the lips, for a longer period of time than what I had expected.

" Oh c'mon, you love it." Mike said, kissing her again.

" Okay, deep down I do, but it still scares me." Jessica said giggling.

" Yo, Mikey, we need to be back on in like a minute!" Tyler called out.

" I'll be there, just hold on!" Mike yelled back at Tyler, setting Jessica back down on the ground. As he ran back, he told Jessica he loved her, and she blew him a kiss.

It was all so sweet, the silly things young people in love do. It's like watching a young sea turtle which just hatched make their way to the ocean, it was just adorable and awkward at the same time.

The second half of the game went smashingly well for Forks. We scored six points, for of them being by Tyler, and Mike had some brilliant defenses. We won nine to four in the end. Everyone on the Forks side was cheering, it was just one more team defeated before they could possibly go to districts!

Eric interviewed me about my thoughts on the game, I didn't have much to tell him since I didn't know so much about basketball, but it would probably be a smidgen of text for the feature that would be published tomorrow. I probably wouldn't be front page news though since Forks defeated Montesano, which was fine with me, whatever worked for the newspaper crew.

*_~~**Alice**~~*_

I had called for a family meeting. I saw something that was very important to share with them, because it would have to be analyzed carefully. This vision I had held a powerful gravity not just over our fates, but our species' in general.

We were in the living room, I was cuddled up with Jasper while Carlisle and Esme sat on a couch across from us. Rosalie and Emmett stood over to my right, and Edward was sitting alone next to Jasper. All of them were eager to know what I had seen. Well, Edward already knew since he could read my mind.

" So, what I saw, it's about the new girl, Elizabeth Ward. I had a vision about her, she's going to end up in Volterra, and she catches Aro's eye. But he doesn't want her blood, he wants something else. " I said, something else meaning a whole lot of sexual images that came in my vision, I would apologize to Edward in advance in case if he read my mind when I thought about those parts of my vision. " If my vision is correct, I think they might be mates."

" So? Why does this matter?" Rosalie asked.

" Rosalie, I am sure Aro wouldn't take too kindly if we kept this vision a secret from him, we already are in hot water with the Volturi, we don't need to get into more trouble with them." Carlisle told Rosalie.

" So the Volturi get to know while Elizabeth is completely helpless?" Edward asked. " Carlisle, Aro is ruthless, and from what I read from Alice's mind, how can we know that he wouldn't use her as some sort of slave?" He asked.

" Well, you obviously didn't ready my mind carefully enough, the sex was completely consensual, no extra powers working or anything. But, you are right Carlisle, I was thinking we should tell the Volturi. But then again, they might not wait and come to take Elizabeth at the wrong time." I stated.

" We'll just have to convince them. Aro will probably oblige since she doesn't know about our kind." Jasper said. I smiled, kissing him on the nose.

" Exactly, and I hope you're right. I like Elizabeth, she's nice." I said. Edward snorted.

" She may like you, but she certainly doesn't like me." Edward said. " She thinks I'm bad for Bella and she'd be better off if I left her."

" Edward, please don't go into that phase again." I snapped at him, I really didn't need Edward's whining to make this meeting more emotional than it needed to be. " We need to make a decision about what to do, and soon." I added.

" I think I should write a letter to Aro, we were good friends a long time ago, I'm sure he would listen to me when I told him to wait." Carlisle said, standing up and straightening out his sweater. " I'll be in my study if you need anything." Carlisle said before walking off to go write the letter.

_*~~**Carlisle**~~*_

I thought of what to write, and how exactly to word this letter. Never did I expect that I was the one to tell Aro about his mate, or that Alice found her. I sighed, writing a few things down in pen, but they all sounded tacky. Three crumpled pieces of paper later, I found out the exact words to write.

_My dear friend,_

_I write to you to notify you about potentially excellent news, not only for the Volturi, but for you as well. Alice has had a vision concerning a young, human woman in Forks Washington who is predestined to be your mate, that is if her vision is correct. Her name is Elizabeth Ward. I have been acquainted with her before Alice's vision while working at the hospital. She has no knowledge of our kind, nor is she aware of you and this apparition. I urge you to wait before getting involved in her life. She should survey the freedom of adulthood prior to love being a factor within her life. But, if you wish to become involved with her, at least wait until after her high school years. She will still be too tender an age for true romantics and carnal involvement until then. I do hope you at least take my words into consideration, for her sake. I would like you to contact me as soon as possible, because to attract you, she must have some sort of power. I will try to get in touch with Eleazar to get her power identified if she has any. I apologize for not knowing much more, but I believed it would be better to inform you sooner rather than later._

_ Wish you well,_

_ Carlisle Cullen._

I put the letter in the envelop and wrote the address, I would have to run by the post office tomorrow after work. I was slightly afraid of how Aro would react, and the fate of my coven if Alice's visions were wrong. This was a darker time for my coven, we had Victoria hunting us, and now the Volturi were keeping an almost obnoxiously close eye on us.

I could only hope things would run smoothly. Aro probably would listen to me, we held a great deal of respect for each other. I put the letter in the center of my desk, where it would wait until morning to be delivered to the king of the vampire world. I just imagined how many lives were going to be changed by this single, short letter.

I tried not to think about the possible tragedies that could occur from it though.


	5. La Push

The first week flew right by, the new student buzz died down and I knew more people than just my group of new friends. Things became routine and I knew how to get to all my classes now. Life was going very smoothly right now.

The school was still in the buzz of Forks winning, we even had an entire assembly about our victory. Something told me the winning buzz would be around for a while, Tyler told me it had been six years since Montesano was defeated in basketball.

Something also coming up was prom, it was happening in three weeks. Everyone was excited for prom, I particularly, since I was too sick to go to my junior prom at my old school. This year, even if I was sick, I would be at prom, not caring if I threw up on the dance floor or not.

Jessica and Angela were talking about going dress shopping in Port Angeles, Lauren was going with other friends up to Seattle. I was almost considering going to Olympia, because I saw a dress downtown that was gorgeous, but I would probably end up going with Jessica and Angela.

Right now though, my mind was more focused on surfing at La Push instead of dresses and sports. I had to be at La Push by noon, which gave me plenty of room to sleep in until eleven. Instead of my underwear, I put on my wetsuit and put my dry clothes on over it.

I got a plastic bag from downstairs to put my underwear in, and an extra set of dry clothes in case Quil and Embry decided to play another prank on me. Dad knew that I wouldn't be back home for several hours, but out of habit, I wrote him a note and stuck it on the fridge.

By eleven thirty, I was on the road. It wasn't raining today, nor was it as cold as the weekdays. I fiddled with the radio as I drove down the back roads. I eventually found a station with Queen playing and settled on that.

I realized I needed to adjust my interior rearview mirror, and when I did, in the reflection, something was speeding past, like the thing at the diner. I stopped the car, assuring that I wouldn't completely panic and swerve off the road. I pulled to the side of the road and allowed myself to calm down first.

After a few minutes of deep breaths and telling myself that I probably just overslept, I kept driving. I turned off the radio and kept extra alert to every little movement. The third time I saw that thing, I was going to get my vision checked.

I arrived to La Push a little past a quarter to. Everyone else was already there and ready to surf. I parked next to Tyler's van and removed my dry clothes so I was just in my wet suit and bare feet, my feet have felt warmer things, let me tell you that.

" Hey! Lizzy!" Mike called out. " You catching' some waves?" Mike said, handing me a board. Having a friend who's parents owned a sporting goods store was a perk, you didn't have to drag your own board around.

" Hell yeah, the swells aren't looking half bad!" I told Mike. " Sadly, I can't stand on a board for my life." I said laughing.

" You're probably better than Eric." Jessica said. Eric gave her a sour look.

" Hey! I stood up once!" Eric said, trying to defend himself.

" Yeah, a foam one." Lauren said, ruining Eric's argument altogether. Eric frowned, making Angela feel guilty enough to give him a hug.

" It's okay, I still love you." She said. Eric tried not to seem happy, but he did smile a little and hugged Angela back.

Mike, Tyler, Eric, Lauren, and I went off to catch some waves. The swells were getting bigger. Mike and Tyler were competing to see how long they could stay on the board. Lauren, who wasn't in a wet suit, but a bikini, was just lying down on her board and floating. Eric, well, no one really knew what Eric was trying to accomplish.

I personally was trying to see if I could stand up for once, I was quite determined. I got on a large wave and tried to stand up, but I completely fell into the water, it was almost as if I didn't try at all. About ten waves later, I stood up for a split second before tumbling into the cold water.

After half an hour, I was almost too cold to function, I changed into dry clothes and sat in the trunk of Tyler's van with Jessica and Angela. We were gossiping when I saw two people I had been wanting to see this whole week.

" Quil, Embry!" I shouted, standing bolt upright and running to them, giving them hugs simultaneously.

" Hey! Long time no see girl!" Quil said.

" Yeah, seven months, that's a bitch." Embry added on to Quil's statement.

" Yeah, no kidding. Anything really cool happen at the res schools? Forks beat Montesano." I said.

" Finally! It's about time Forks kicked their ass! But nothing really cool has been happen, just usual." Quil said. Embry snorted.

" He lies! He actually shouldn't be here. He got into this huge fight with Peter at school, I mean, huge. I wish I had a camera phone so I could have taped it. His parents have him grounded so hard!" Embry said. I gave Quil a jesting glare and his him on the arm playfully.

" You've got to be joking! For crying out loud!" I said, not really knowing what else to say to Quil. Quil was laughing smugly.

" Oh come on, you got grounded with your mom more than I ever have with mine!" Quil said in his defense.

" Bullshit!" I said, Quil was still laughing like a smug idiot. " I have seen your mom whoop your ass on multiple occasions."

" No, nope, nope." Quil said in total denial, holding out his hand to be. " Talk to the hand sister!"

" I'm not talking to that thing, I caught you doing the dirty with that hand." I said. Two summers ago, Embry, Jacob, and I were looking for Quil and caught him masturbating to porn, and he's never lived it down since. In Quil's defense, the porn actually wasn't half bad, but I wasn't going to tell anyone that.

That was a defining moment in my friendship with Embry, Jacob, and Quil. A group of people do not just simply discover one of them masturbating while watching porn, and not become the best of friends afterwards.

" I will find your secret someday, Elizabeth! When I do, my incident will be dead!" Quil said, pointing his finger at me. Embry started laughing to himself.

" Quil, that incident will never be dead, you sounded more like the actress instead of the actor." Embry whispered, laughing hysterically. Quil glared at him and started chasing him around the beach.

" I often wonder why I hang out with you two!" I shouted at them, since they were not playing their game of cat and mouse a few hundred yards away.

" Oh come on, you love us!" Quil shouted, not long after, he finally tackled Embry, but Embry got away with ease.

" What were you guys even talking about?" Jessica asked.

" You don't want to know, and even if you did, I am sworn not to tell anyone." I said.

" Oh alright. Geez, when are Lauren and the boys going to be done surfing?" Jessica asked.

" Who knows really? For now, a hike sounds really fun." Angela said, standing up, Jessica and I following her.

" Hey! Do you want to you on a hike?" Jessica shouted out so everyone out in the water could hear.

" Yeah! Hold on! Tyler and I still need to decide who won!" Mike called out. Lauren swam back to shore and leaned her board against Mike's car. Eric also came back in, he was a chattering mess. Angela gave him a towel and bathrobe to warm him up.

" Mike, Ty! It might be a while before we go on the hike, Eric is freezing!" Angela shouted out. I was shocked, Angela was typically quiet, I never did picture her being so loud. Mike gave Angela a thumbs up, and Angela went back to help warm up Eric.

By the time the sun was setting, we all gathered by Quil's house for the bonfire. Quil's mom had made some burgers for us all and passed around old blankets so we could warm up. We sat around the fire talking and eating, so we were practically living the teenage dream.

We were busy talking about good food we have had in our lives when Angela just about screamed. When I looked at Angela, she was fine, but I was still very concerned.

" Angela? What happened?" Eric asked, putting his arms around her.

" I saw this huge thing, it was like a bear or something, bigger than a person on all fours." Angela said, her voice still shaken the by shock of what she had seen.

Quil and Embry looked at each other, it almost was like they could read each other's thoughts, both of them looked worried, and slightly angry. I dismissed the thought, but for a slit second I wondered if they knew anything about this.

" It's okay, probably just a tree branch or something." Jessica said as an attempt to comfort her, but Angela shook her head.

" No, I know what I saw, it was an animal, and a huge one at that." Angela told Jessica. She sat up straight again, adjusting her glasses. " What time is it, does anyone know?"

" It's nine thirty." Eric said, looking at his watch.

" Oh no, I have that KEY club thing I need to do! I should probably get going, I'm going have to be up by five tomorrow." Angela said, standing up, she took her now folded blanket and walked over to the house, giving it back to Mrs. Ateara.

" Yeah, I think my mom will want me home, we should get going." Tyler said. Everyone agreed. We took our blankets back in and thanked Mrs. Ateara for the burgers before heading back out to our cars.

" It was fun, we'll have to hang again sometime." Embry said. I nodded.

" Yeah totally. Next Friday is good, Sunday I'm going fishing with dad and Billy." I told him.

" Oh, we need to show her this epic place we found in the forest!" Quil told Embry.

" Holy crap, that's right! Next Friday, prepare to be amazed!" Embry said.

"Will do." I said, I was now at my car. " See yah!" I said before getting in. They waved me goodbye as I drove back home, I saw no speeding thing this time, but the fact it had started raining bullets helped.

I walked in to my dad fast asleep and snoring on the couch, the TV was still on and an infomercial playing. I turned off the TV and went upstairs, knowing not to wake my dad up, my dad, not matter what circumstances, would become one of the crankiest people alive if woken up.

Before going to bed, I did some more work on my Biology III essay, not quite the whole third my goal was, but I had more than enough time on Sunday to get it done. I was too tired to think by the time I called it quits, I would have fallen asleep on the desk.

I crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly. Not long after, I started dreaming.

I was in a bacchanalian party scene in what seemed like the eighteenth century. People were extremely drunk and definitely didn't reflect the propriety the days of old that we were told about in history class. People were lounging on couches, drinking and groping as they laughed, some of them moaning from rather carnal pleasures. Then again, Bacchanalia was just a fancy way of saying orgy.

I was lost, trying to make the way though the intoxicated crowd to find a door, but I had no luck. At this time, I realized that I was wearing period dress, but I was much more modest than the other guests.

" Are you lost mia cara?" I heard a voice say behind me. It was the same voice that was in my other dream, with the warrior and the dog-like beasts. I jumped and pivoted quickly on my foot to see the exact same man from the other dream. Same long black hair, same white skin, same unnatural blue eyes. The only thing different about him was his attire.

" Yes, I am." I told him. He took a bronze key from his pocket and suddenly a door appeared, it was like magic, he unlocked it, opening it for me as I wandered out into the night.

I was in the gardens of this manor, which were well kept for and had a variety of plant species. Weeping willows loomed over a long, and in the middle of them all was a bench. I sat down on the bench.

" I am sorry you had to attend this gathering unwillingly. The only reason I hold it is to collect the debts of those here." He said, sitting down next to me. I looked at him, I was quite confused.

" Debts?" I asked. The man chuckled to himself.

" Oh yes, these people have been owing me large sums of money for years, and yet they still borrow and borrow. Today is the day when I am paid back." He explained. For a man who was waiting for probably almost a hundred people to pay him large sums of money, he seemed quite calm about it.

" That's good." I said, looking through the tops of the weeping willows to see the stars shine brightly in the sky. " This whole estate is just beautiful, and the stars just complete it somehow." I said. The man looked up in the sky and smiled

" Grazie mia cara, it brings me happiness when others can appreciate things for their beauty, rather than value." He said. I noticed our hands were dangerously close together, I contemplated whether I should touch his, but my mind told me against it.

" Your welcome. Sadly, money can distort our views on everything." I said.

" That is quite true. I have never met such a thoughtful young woman, most are more focused on dresses and making sure their waistlines are smaller than their age." He said.

" Well, you can't completely exclude me from that category, I do apply to both of those said things." I replied. He looked me straight in the eye and smiled. My heart was beating quicker now, and I could feel my cheeks flush.

" I suppose I cannot can I?"

His hand was just about to touch mine when I woke up from the dream. I groaned and buried my face in my pillow, why did my brain always have to cock block me? I looked at the time on my alarm clock, it was one thirty. I rolled my eyes, dreading that it was possible I was starting to have a thread of similar dreams. Find guy, meet guy, get cock blocked.


	6. Dress Shopping Diaster

_ Author's Note: Thanks for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites. This is rather exciting. If any of you are wondering if there will be a Quil and/or Embry/Aro/OC love triangle, there isn't. I really think love triangles are cliché and should just stop. Also no one at Forks High School has a crush on her either, I'm still going to keep all the guys (Except Aro of course) bowing down to Bella. Well, I am going to be nice to you all, I planned on adding this little scene later, but I think you guys deserve the first actual Volturi scene a little sooner for being totally awesome and reviewing._

_ *~*Aro*~*_

I was sitting upon my throne, my posture was quite poor though. Things had been getting tedious this past, nothing was happening at all, no one to punish, no one to kill, and therefore, nothing to do.

All I could think about was Bella, and her extraordinary ability to block every mental power, regretting not killing her right then and there. She would be a threat to us, in fact, she was a threat to us and she was still a human. I should have listened to Caius, she was a liability.

At least at night, I had time to study the arts and sciences, so I shouldn't say my entire existence became tedious, just the daytime politics. The speed of sunrise to sunset was increasingly getting slower for me.

But even the nights have been getting more tedious since I have spent a lot of my time writing a book about the physical and psychosexual traits in human females, for I could read their minds and know exactly what they wished for. This experiment was growing frustrating, I had plenty of women willing to experiment, that's far from the reason. The real reason was that there were so many different things each woman desired that I couldn't find things in common that were already common knowledge. I could barley find pairings of traits that I could categorize with.

But I wrote all that I encountered, and maybe, after I concluded my little experiment, I would find something that was linked, something that would crack the code of women, or at least their sexual behaviors.

Even though I had women in my bed every night, I still felt alone. Then again, when your lab rats are also your dinner, you tend not to view them as equals. I still had yet to find someone that would activate the mating pull.

Over three thousand years and I still haven't found anyone. I kept this secret from the rest of my coven, but it angered me. It made me wonder if the world thought I was incapable of love. Over the course of three millennia, I had committed terrible acts to assure my rise to, and maintaining power. I was almost certain that my punishment was never to find love.

I watched as the doors opened, and my human secretary walked in with a letter on a silver platter. I straightened up my posture, smiling, and hoping that this will be the beginnings of something interesting happening.

" My dear Bianca." I said, standing up as she walked closer. I took the letter from her, and dismissing her with the waving of a hand. The letter was from Carlisle, probably some message begging to allow Bella more time as a human. Nothing interesting might now happen after all.

The moment I started reading the letter, I was appalled, I stood statue still as my eyes scanned the rest of the letter, absorbing every word written in Carlisle's brilliant penmanship.

" What is it Aro?" Marcus asked. I handed him the letter, if I were human, my hands might have been trembling. Caius watched with a curious eye as Marcus read the letter. Marcus' lips curved into a small smile and he handed the letter to Caius, who took it eagerly and scrutinized it.

" Oh my." Marcus said aloud.

" Are you sure this isn't the Olympic coven's way of tricking us?" Caius asked.

" Oh Caius, do you really think the Cullens are stupid enough to trick us after they are in our watchful eye. No, Carlisle wouldn't have written this letter unless it were true. It is wise he alerted me as soon as Alice told him about her vision, I might have had to execute him if he didn't." I replied to Caius.

" So, are you going to allow Elizabeth to live a normal life during her years of education?" Marcus asked.

" Yes, I will wait until she completes four years at university. Carlisle was right when he said she is too young. She still has yet to fully develop, physically, and intellectually. Which four years at a university should complete." I said with a pause. " Although, I will be keeping a close eye on her, and may even have her make my acquaintance in the near future."

" What if Carlisle was lying in the letter that she didn't know of our kind?" Caius asked.

" My dear Caius, why so negative when our coven has received good news? As I told you before Caius, Carlisle knows full well what his fate would be if he lied to us. There is no need to worry. Soon, Eleazar will identify her power and we will make preparations to welcome her." I scolded Caius, it was starting to irk me that Caius was making the discovery of my mate seem like a dirge.

" If she doesn't have powers?" Caius asked. Now I was getting more annoyed than what was healthy, for Caius.

" She has power. I can feel it, it's something that will change our coven forever."

_ *~*Elizabeth*~*_

Two weeks had passed since my first La Push visit, I had been down there on several more occasions, but all of them brief, apparently Quil and Embry had joined Sam's gang. It didn't bother me too much, Sam was a good guy, but he was just harsh and demanded a good portion of people's time.

My day today wasn't going to be about hiking, swimming, and surfing. It was going to be about the glitz and girly glamour of shopping for a prom dress with Jessica and Angela. We were heading up to Port Angeles and what happened in Jessica's car, stayed in Jessica's car… we were singing along to an Abba song on the radio.

" If you change your mind, I'm the first in line! Honey I'm still free. Take a chance on me..." We all sang, let's just say none of us were going to have a professional singing career.

Yeah, that was a secret we would all carry to the grave. I mean, Abba is awesome, it's just for some reason, society doesn't like Abba.

When we arrived in Port Angeles, Jessica took us to Black Diamond Bridal, which according to her, was the only dress shop in Port Angeles worth visiting. We got a parking spot right in front of the store, and we wandered in, ready to spend obscene amounts of money on the best dress. No regrets whatsoever. We were teenage girls, spending a couple hundred dollars on a prom dress was something we had a talent in.

I was the kind of girl who had a prom dress fund since I was eight years old and thought that Disney high school was a real thing, I needed to make sure I had enough money to buy a better dress than this one girl I didn't like in the second grade, Michelle Johnson, who was, and still is all that and a bag of chips. When it got to high school, I completely ignored her, but I still kept my prom dress fund from when I was eight because deep down, I still wanted a better dress than her. It would be something to satisfy my eight year old self.

But now that I didn't have to compete with Michelle for stupid immature reasons, I would tone the prom dress down to something I liked, not something that would be more extravagant than someone else's dress. I would probably keep it simple and classy.

Something I was scared of was finding a dress that fit right. While Jessica and Angela had proportionate figures, I was small up top, but my ass was like a chick in a rap video. Okay, it wasn't quite that bootylicious, since I was probably one of the whitest girls on the block.

But I probably had enough money to pay for any alterations that would be needed. That calmed me down a little bit, but it still made me feel a little insecure when Jessica and Angela were in a section with a whole bunch of cute dresses, and here I was in the plus size, not really finding anything I liked.

" Is there anything you need help with miss?" A middle aged woman asked, she wore an employee nametag that said 'Linda Schaefer.'

" Yes please. I'm not really finding a dress I like that is in my size, do you have anymore?" I asked, feeling a little awkward.

" Of course, if you follow me miss." She said.

I followed her to another part of the store, where there were some new dresses that were just shipped.

" Our plus size section is dismal right now, we just got a new shipment in this morning. I hope you'll find something you like in here." Linda said. She opened some of the dress bags and I got a good look at them, there was a red one that I liked a lot.

" See anything you like miss?" She asked.

" I'd like to try on the red and purple ones, please." I said. She smiled and lead my into a dressing room. I saw Jessica and Angela trying on dresses and judging them. Angela was in a light pink dress that complimented her slim figure. I gave her a thumbs up on that one.

Linda took my measurements and wrote them down on a clipboard that I didn't see before. I told myself not to look. I'd just pretend my waist was twenty four inches and save myself the self esteem plummet.

I had the purple dress on, but I decided against it, the shade of purple was too dark to look good on me. But when I got the red dress on, it was a whole other story. I loved it, the black ribbon that was tied in a bow around my waist, the way it pushed my tits up a little, and especially the feeling of soft chiffon. I smiled in the mirror, I looked a little ridiculous right now, but once the dress was altered a little bit, it would look ravishing.

" I love this one." I said.

" Are you planning to buy it miss?" Linda asked. I nodded. " Well, the adjustments actually shouldn't take too long since this dress is relatively simple. It should take about two hours." Linda told me.

" Yes, I'm getting this one!" I said. I looked at the price tag, it was seventy five bucks. " How much will alterations cost?" I asked.

" Fifty dollars."

" I'm definitely getting this." I said.

After buying my dress, I was in the dressing room helping Jessica and Angela choose their dress. It was three hours until Jessica decided on a dark pink one, that in her words 'made her boobs look good.' Angela settled on a light blue one an hour before Jessica decided.

My dress was also ready, both of them were dying to see it on me. When it was finally on, they both approved. We had our dresses and shoes purchased and we decided to find somewhere to eat.

It was dark, not even the full moon lit our path for us, the new moon made it black though. We put the dresses in Jessica's car and decided to walk to the restaurant since Jessica's car was almost out of gas, and we were hungry enough that filling her car up with gas was a second priority.

Of course, just our luck, we got lost, and we did not know our way back. We somehow managed to end up on the bad side of town.

" Pretty ladies." A drunken voice called out in the dark. We looked at each other, what the hell were we going to do? " There's no use in running from us."

" Oh shit, it's those guys who are trafficking girls in Port Angeles isn't it?" Jessica whimpered. Angela put her finger to her lips and gave Jessica an annunciated shush.

" We need to remain calm." Angela said, she didn't sound convincing, her voice was just as shaky as Jessica's.

" Maybe we should run." I suggested.

" No, they'll catch us too easily." Angela whispered to me."

" We can hear you." Another drunken voice called out. We froze. There were clomping feet coming close, the footfalls growing louder and louder with each second. " We know where you are."

" I'm going with Liz's idea of running the fuck away." Jessica's voice trembled.

" Yeah, I think that's a good idea too." Angela said.

We started running away, but our stalkers had a hold of Jessica before we got far. We ran back, trying to find Jessica, when we ourselves got snatched.

" Let me go!" I screamed, flailing around like a fish, my defense tactics were useless. Angela though got out of her captor's hands with ease, she was a black belt in taekwondo, something that I would be forever thankful for when she got my sorry ass out of this mess.

There was a snarl, and all of our stalkers screamed, soon after, there was a snapping sound, and I fell down with my captor. All of their necks had been snapped. I stared in shock at the sight of the dead bodies, but then Jessica grabbed me by the arm and we ran back to her car and got in, locking all the doors.

" Fuck dinner! I'm getting gas and we are going the fuck home!" Jessica shouted. With that, there was a loud thud on the front window. A man with black hair and golden eyes, and that wasn't just poetic description, they were fucking golden!

We screamed like little girls. Jessica started the car immediately and got the man on our car off, she threatened to run him over a few times, cursing things that would make a sailor blush as she did. We drove off faster than the speed limit until we got on the freeway.

" Did you see that guy on the car?" Jessica asked.

" Did you see his eyes?" Angela asked.

" They were golden, the color of Aztec fucking gold!" I shouted.

" He was kind of hot." Jessica said, Angela and I stared at her like she was insane.

" No! If he got in the car, he would have raped us!" Angela said. " Get some sense into your head!"

" I know, I know! Let's just pretend like nothing ever happened." Jessica shouted.

" Jessica! I have to tell my dad about this, he's a police officer!" I said. " He would freak if he didn't find out from me. My dad doesn't freak often, but this would be one of the times he would."

" My dad also wouldn't be too happy if he found out from someone other than me either." Angela also said.

" Alright, fine." Jessica said. " At least the streets will get cleaned up."

_Sorry I haven't updated in a while, my computer crashed and I had to study for finals. Happy Martin Luther King Day :D_


	7. Dad's New Rules

_Author's Note: I decided to give you another chapter today as an apology for not updating for a while. Enjoy._

_ *~*Eleazar*~*_

Damn, teenage girls were flighty. I guess they had a right to be, they didn't exactly know I was the one who rescued them from those traffickers, it seemed that there was no valuable business in Seattle trafficking unless you were already stationed there.

If Aro had found out about Elizabeth getting kidnapped, and becoming a sex slave, he would have been on a murderous rampage, completely disregarding the laws he set. He wouldn't have killed conspicuously, he would have hung their mutilated bodies off of buildings for the world to see.

But, at least that wasn't the outcome, I had saved three innocent lives today, and destroyed five guilty ones. Sex traffickers, taking young girls from their homes and forcing them to give favors so they could have a profit, it disgusted me. I would kill any of those humans quite willingly.

Not only did I save lives, but I also discovered something that would hold a very powerful gravity on the vampire world. I ran back to the Cullens, this news was urgent, and the Volturi would have to know immediately.

In a short span of time, I was at the Cullen's doorstep. I walked right in, knowing that I was welcome. The Cullens, and Bella, were waiting in the living room patiently. I sighed and sat down next to Carlisle.

" Before I tell you what I know. I will need Carlisle to write in the letter that Elizabeth was attacked, and that the outcome would have been more tragic if I didn't get there the moment I was. Her attackers are dead, I killed them." I told the Cullens.

They were shocked, which didn't surprise me, I was a vegetarian like them, and I would never take a human life unless it were absolutely necessary. Esme looked particularly disturbed by this news.

" Now, on with what I know. She is indeed powerful, nothing like I thought it would be." I said, pausing, it was difficult for me to say.

" Eleazar, tell us. What power does she hold?" Carlisle said to me. I took another deep sigh.

" She has the power of mind control." I said. This took the Cullen's and Bella aback, as it would the rest of the vampire world. " But, there is a twist. Her power will take her several decades to master at the very least. Also, she will be weaker than other vampires, the power will drain so much of her strength that she'll still be stronger than a human, but weaker than the rest of us."

" She'll be extremely vulnerable." Carlisle said. " So many are going to want her power in their covens, whether it be for reasons of hunting, or overthrowing the Volturi. She'll be in grave danger, she won't master her gift before an attempted kidnapping on her, and she'll be too weak to fight them off."

" Wait, is this Elizabeth Ward you're talking about?" Bella asked.

" Yes." Edward told her.

" I know her. We played together when we were little kids. That's totally strange..." Bella said trailing off.

" I bet you never expected your play date to become Aro the Vampire Overlord's queen now did yah?" Emmett asked Bella jokingly, laughing at his own joke. Bella shook her head.

" Please, Emmett, this is serious." Carlisle gently scolded him. Emmett piped down, looking like an oversized little kid who had been sent to time out.

" I should probably be heading back to my coven soon, I told them I would be back before morning." I said.

" I hope to see you soon Eleazar, it's always good talking to you." Carlisle said before giving me a friendly hug.

" Same with you my friend. Hopefully, it will be more friendly circumstances that will bring us together." I said before departing from the Cullen's house.

_*~*Bella*~*_

" So, will the Volturi come for her while she's still in high school?" I asked Edward. He shook his head.

" They would have come for her already, they should have gotten the letter Carlisle sent by now, it's been a couple weeks." Edward replied.

" I mean, why wouldn't they take her, it's not like Aro." I said.

" Aro probably has some selfish reason to wait for her. I personally think that Carlisle shouldn't have told the Volturi about her, there's only going to be drama around her here on out. Word gets around fast in our world Bella, and many other covens are going to take interest in her, especially ones looking to overthrow the Volturi."

" Who?" I asked.

"The Romanians, they are dying to get their authority back. They ruled before the Volturi, and before the Volturi came into power, the existence of vampires was common knowledge. It was a time of terror for humans. The Romanians were lawless, many vampires preferred their rule, and many would align with them if they ever tried to take down the Volturi." Edward said.

" Who would we align with?" I asked. I had many questions that needed answering.

" Probably the Volturi, they may be ruthless, but at least they aren't lawless." Edward said. " Also, Carlisle and Aro are old friends, he still has loyalties to them even after he left their coven."

" If there is a fight, you might need to change me." I murmured, trying to hint that Edward should just get over himself and change me into a vampire already. " That is, after you do something with me."

" Bella, if there is a fight, it won't be for a while. Also, you promised, you would marry me first." Edward said. I scowled.

" How do you know?" I asked. Edward smiled, kissing me on the lips.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

I told dad about the incident in Port Angeles, he had the Port Angeles PD on the case. My dad was practically hovering over me, he kept on asking if I was okay, if I was hurt, and if I would need to see a doctor. I told him no over and over, but he kept asking. I didn't blame him, I would probably take it worse if it was my kid who got ambushed by sex traffickers.

My dad was on the phone, from what I could hear, it was with the Port Angeles PD. I heard only my dad's side of the conversation. My dad said goodbye and walked back into the living room, where I was on the couch with a blanket and a mug of cocoa.

" It's official, you were right, they were dead." My dad said. " Did you or your friends have anything to do with this?" My dad asked. I shook my head.

" No, I just heard them scream, and then something that sounded like their necks snapping, and then I fell down with the one who had a hold on me. The only one alive was the creeper with the golden eyes." I said.

" The one who jumped on Jessica's car right?" My dad asked. I nodded.

" Yeah. I mean, this guy must have been the boss or something, because I mean the contacts he had on made Aztec gold look like lead." I said. " Those must have been expensive." I muttered.

" They'll find him soon enough, this new trafficking in Port Angeles is much smaller scale than what's been happening in Seattle." My dad said with a pause. " Alright, I know I'm going to seem like a total drag, but I'm going to have to set down some new rules, and I talked to both Jessica's and Angela's parents, they are setting down the same ground rules. Rule one, you don't go walking around at night unless you are at the res. Rule two, if you are out of town, you need to be back home by eight. Rule three, you will have full tanks of gas before going out of town. Understood." My dad said in a scolding tone. I knew I'd be slightly in trouble, not insisting that Jessica filled her gas tank was stupid, so was walking around at nine in the evening.

" Yes." I said, feeling like I was five years old, and being told not to do something.

" If you break these rules, even once, well, I'm going to have to ground you for a month." My dad said. I grimaced. " Even if it means you miss prom." My dad added. I stared at him wide eyed, he gave me the parenting eye that was so rare to see.

" Okay." I said. My dad sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulders.

" Look, I don't mean to sound like a drag, but that was too close. If anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do, I wouldn't be able to escape your mother." My dad said. I laughed a little bit. " But seriously, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you, but whatever it was, it wouldn't be good. So please, just be safe."

Now I felt guilty, it wasn't often my dad got all sentimental and stuff, I was close to crying. I hugged my dad, hoping desperately that I wouldn't start crying.

" I'm sorry dad." I said, it was muffled by my dad's shirtsleeve. I lost my battle with my tears.

" Hey, don't start crying on me kid. It's okay, just don't scare me like that again." My dad said. I stopped hugging him and sat up straight, wiping tears from my eyes, trying to stop crying. " Need some Kleenex?" My dad asked. I nodded and sniffled, soon finding a couple sheets of tissues in my hand.

" Thanks dad." I said, my voice was choked up. I wiped those awkward gross tears that came out of my nose before I wiped the tears that fell from my eyes.

" Welcome Liz. You got any homework you need to get done?" My dad asked. I shook my head, I finished the little I had on Friday so that I didn't have to worry about it while dress shopping, and I would have a free Sunday to do my chores.

" I need to do chores though." I said.

" Alright, once you've got your cocoa finished, you should probably start that up. Getting back into the grind of things generally helps with trauma." My dad said.

" Yeah, you're right. I probably won't go all Les Miserables washing the dishes." I said.

" I have no idea what you're talking about, but alright. No Les Miser-whatever-you-said on the dishes." My dad said. I laughed.

" It's a musical." I said. My dad smiled.

" Mom got you into that musical and BBC stuff did she?" My dad asked. I nodded. " Yeah, she always loved that kind of stuff. She was in a musical in our senior year of high school. She got an inter-district transfer to some fancy Tacoma arts school." My dad said, these were all things I knew, but it was nice sometimes to hear stories that have already been told, especially the good ones.

" Yeah, I always wonder why she chose linguist over theater actress, she is really good." I said.

" College whims I guess." My dad said. I shrugged. " I should get down to the station, I told them I would be in late, but I should probably show up." My dad said, shrugging on his uniform jacket before grabbing the essentials. " You'll be okay here alone?" My dad asked. I nodded. " Alright, see yah in a while Liz." My dad said before heading out the door.

After I got my chores finished up, I decided to call Jessica. I stood in the kitchen, playing with the phone's cord, waiting for Jessica to pick up.

" Hey Liz." Jessica said.

" Hey Jessica. Did your parents lay the smack down on you too hard?" I asked.

" Yes! Oh my god, my mom was totally freaking out. I can't be out of town past eight! That's like so dumb. I just hope that my parents will still allow the 'sleepover' with Angela so Mike and I can get a motel in Port Angeles and you know, do it." Jessica said.

" Jessica, TMI." I groaned.

" Sorry, but if my parents won't let me go to the pretend sleepover, my life is ruined." Jessica said.

" Yeah, my rules are that I can't be out past dark unless I'm on the res, I have to be back from out of town by eight, and the gas tank has to be full before going out of town." I said.

" Oh, my, god! I have the same rules too." Jessica said.

" Yeah, our parents totally did the parent thing and collaborated when it came to rules." I admitted.

" Oh my gosh, my mom was thinking of grounding me until I was out of the house! Angela's dad was also pissed off too. Thank god your dad is totally chill and since he's deputy and stuff people will listen to him." Jessica said.

" I know, if my dad wasn't chill, life would suck dick." I said. " Well, you are apparently going to anyways." I said, laughing to myself hysterically.

" Hey! Not funny!" Jessica whined.

" Hey, you're the one who randomly told me you were hoping to get the D after prom, that was unwanted information. I will joke about it as I please." I said. " I'll keep it only when we phone each other, I'm not that much of a bitch."

" Mmm hmm." Jessica hummed skeptically.

" I swear, I'm not going to announce it to the world."

" You better not!" Jessica shouted. I started laughing again.

" Use protection." I said in a jingle over the phone.

" Of course! I don't want to get knocked up before college, which is probably what will happen to Bella. I mean, do you actually like Bella, because I really don't." Jessica said.

" I'm cool with her I guess, she just needs to get her priorities back to shape." I said. " She was so much cooler before she met Edward though, I'll admit that." I said.

" Oh my god! Tell me about. She has every guy at her feet! I mean, she's pretty and all, but I swear, not even Mike has given up with her. I swear, when we do the dirty, he's going to say Bella's name instead of mine!" Jessica squealed, getting worked up about a petty matter.

" Alright, calm down. You my darling are going to show that stupid boy a thing or to, got that?" I counseled her.

" Alright." She said, taking a deep breath. " Your right, I just need to calm down. Also, it surprises me no one asked you." Jessica added.

" Meh, I'm no Bella Swan when it comes to look, it doesn't surprise me at all." I said. " Oh well, I did the whole boyfriend thing in freshman and sophomore year, it was too much drama. I don't really care. I'll find some dork in college." I said with a laugh.

" Oh, shit, I gotta go, my parents are home. Talk to you later." Jessica said.

" Bye." I said, hanging up the phone. I looked out the window, I had lied to Jessica when I said I didn't care that I didn't have a date, I did care. Was it my number one priority? No, but it still would have been nice not to be the seventh wheel like I usually was at school. It took a little piece of my self esteem and killed it. Oh well, I'll just dance around like some white idiot and make people laugh.


	8. The Prom That Held Mystery

_ Author's Note: Alright, it's prom chapter :D You all will be very happy with this one._

After a long week at school, it was finally prom. Eric was talking about the theme and setup all day, trying to convince us to volunteer to go help set it up. Angela was the only one who actually went to help set it up.

Jessica, Lauren, Angela, and I were getting ready at my house. We did each other's hair and makeup in my bathroom. It was a bit crowded in there, but we managed just fine. The rules that had been set down for Jessica, Angela, and I were uplifted for tonight, and only tonight.

I got Jessica's hair in a curly updo and but faux diamond bobby pins in her hair. Lauren insisted that Angela should embrace her straight hair, and made it even straighter with a flat iron she brought over from her house. Lauren, since her hair was fairly short, had short curls like a 1940's movie star, she looked the part too when her makeup and dress were on too. Let's just say Tyler was one lucky guy.

Jessica started doing my hair, she insisted on coming up with something for me, and I let her, trusting that she wouldn't fuck my hair up like I almost did hers when I ran out of hairspray. She smiled when she came up with her idea, and left my hair down, curling it into large, gentle flat iron curls, it took a lot of hairspray and repeated curls to get my hair to stay curly.

" Oh my gosh, Mike got a limo for us!" Jessica said.

" Oh my gosh, that is so awesome. We're going to be the only people in Forks with a Limo." I replied, I would have said more, but Jessica was applying lipstick on my lips.

" I know right? I love Mike, he knows what we ladies like." Jessica said when she was finished with my lipstick.

" Tyler told me about that, apparently all the guys pitched in a few bucks." Lauren said.

" Aww." Angela said. " That's so sweet, we're going to have to thank them somehow." She added.

" Oh, Mike will be getting a big thank you after prom." Jessica said. Angela gasped when she finally understood what Jessica meant.

" Okay, I won't thank Eric in that way, but maybe a new book bag for college, he's been talking about that." Angela replied. The way Angela got all flushed and embarrassed was absolutely adorable.

" Yeah, after this whole limo business, I might have to thank Tyler later." Lauren proclaimed, her statement laced with sexual innuendos.

" I'll send them IHop gift cards. My older cousin's college job is a cook at IHop, so I get all these IHop gift cards for Christmas, I have enough to give to the guys." I said.

" Oh my god, who doesn't like IHop?" Angela asked.

" Weirdo's." Jessica answered.

We were finally ready an hour later, there was only five minutes until prom. The guys were here before we were ready, so we scrambled to get our heels on and finish the last touches on our appearance. I ran into my room and grabbed the three IHop gift cards and followed Jessica, Angela, and Lauren downstairs.

" Woo! Lauren! You look hot!" Tyler said. Lauren laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

I watched as Eric told Angela she looked pretty, everything was totally innocent and adorable. When Mike saw Jessica, the way he was looking at her, he only had one thing on his mind, tits.

" Hey, could y'all get together, Liz's mom wants pictures." My dad said, coming out with a small camera. We all got together and smiled. Dad only took one picture, he wasn't the take five million photos kind of guy. " Alright, thanks!" My dad said.

" You're welcome Deputy Ward." Eric said, being polite to his authorities as usual. My dad smiled at Eric and put the camera back in his pocket. " You all look great, especially you Liz." My dad said with a smile. " And yes, I'm going to embarrass you with the whole once upon a time you were daddy's little girl type stuff."

" Dad, Prom's in five minutes, we need to get going." I said.

" Alright, you win you little twerp." Dad said. I chuckled to myself. " Hey, just be careful, and have fun." My dad said, giving me a hug. I nodded and gave him a thumbs up before walking out the door, where a sleek black limo was waiting for us.

The ride in the limo was fun, all us girls were freaking out about being in a limo while the guys were completely chill about it, but they were very happy with their new IHop gift cards. We got at the school just two minutes before prom started. Eric and Angela were literally running inside, Eric was the DJ like he was last year apparently.

We walked inside to Christmas lights hung from the ceiling and cheap white and pastel strobe lights trying to make the dark room seem slightly more sophisticated than a night club. Everyone started dancing, and I was there, all alone, dancing awkwardly with myself for five seconds before giving up and feeling awkward where I was. I saw that there were small snacks and bowls of punch on the other side of the room, so I took the opportunity to at least do something besides standing around and being awkward.

Eventually, after the snack table lost its magic, I wandered to the gazebo outside, where I saw a most peculiar sight.

_*~*Aro*~*_

I had travelled to Italy, my message informed Carlisle that I wished to meet my mate in the near future. Here I was, at this rather pathetic "formal" dance for wild adolescents, it was almost like a bacchanalia. Also, the blue contacts Marcus had suggested I put in my eyes before meeting her had started to bother me.

I was growing disgusted and incredibly bored when I saw a young woman walk out of the riff raff. Something told me that this was the Elizabeth Ward Carlisle told me about, she had a certain pull on me that I didn't feel for another soul in this world.

She was a thing of beauty. How did she end up without and escort? It was something I was relieved, but I still questioned the mentality of human males of this time period. If she were in another time period, she would have definitely had an escort to a much more polite dance she was at now.

Maybe it bias, she was my mate after all. Was it the way her dark blond curls fell past her shoulders? Or was it the flow of her figure, the curve of her waist and hips? Maybe it was everything about her that appeased my mind and set a fire in my loins. All I knew was that my lovely woman in red walked towards my as I thought to myself.

She looked surprised at the sight of me, but she kept walking closer and closer until finally, she was also under the cheap gazebo with me. She almost looked too frightened to come any closer.

" No way." She gasped. I would have thought her impolite, but obviously, something about me had frightened her in a way she couldn't ignore. " I've seen you before, in a dream, several of them." She added.

" Have you now?" I asked her. She looked at me puzzled.

" Who are you?" She asked. I chuckled and held out my hand

" You'll know in time mia cara." I told her. She looked at me skeptically, but decided to place her hand in mine, allowing me to kiss it.

In a flash, I saw her entire life pass through my eyes, including her random, interesting dreams about me. Carlisle was telling the truth that she had no idea about our kind. Another thought she had was about me being strange for kissing her hand. I was now ashamed of the human race, was propriety not a commonplace anymore? What I have seen inside Elizabeth's mind, it certainly wasn't.

I gave her hand back to her, she looked at me, still puzzled as before, but this time, there was a spark of curiosity in her blue eyes.

" What do you want from me?" She asked.

" Many things, but for now, a dance would be a pleasure." I said, holding my hand out once again. " Would you do me the honor?" I asked.

She thought long and hard about her answer, I could tell she was being careful after the horrible incident in Port Angeles. She finally put her hand in mine, but made sure she had my attention by giving me a cold, hard look.

" I'm trusting you. If I shouldn't, leave now and save yourself the trouble." She snarled. It took a great deal of inner strength to not get angry at her, I had to tell myself over and over again that she didn't know who I was, and that she was just being careful.

" I swear on my life." I told her, I internally chuckled, seeing that I was actually dead. She nodded, giving me permission to dance with her.

I put my arm around her waist and started dancing with her slowly. It took a while to get comfortable with her height, she was much shorter than I was, and she was probably wearing shoes to make her taller like other girls at this event.

After a while, she was growing much more comfortable being in my presence, she didn't ask me anymore questions to my surprise, she was just enjoying the moment for what it was.

Eventually, she rested her head against my chest, she was appalled at her own action, but she told her rational mind to 'shut up.'

" Why are you so cold?" Elizabeth asked. Now the long strings of questions were coming.

" Is it I who is cold, or you who is warm?" I replied. She grew frustrated that I didn't actually answer her question.

" Why do you want to dance with me? Or have anything to do with me for that matter?" She asked.

" The same reason you dance with me, or have anything to do with me." I replied.

_" Manipulative little shit." _She thought to herself. I chuckled, twirling her under my arm.

" Why don't you answer any of my questions?" She asked me.

" Because you ask too many." I replied.

" Touché." She told me, a little smirk curving her lips. " You know, I'm going to have to thank you for this. I didn't expect to dance with anyone, and once I got here, I didn't exactly expect to have fun either. No matter how odd this whole thing is, I'm having a good time." She said.

" You're welcome. I hope we meet again after tonight." I told her.

" I hope so too. I know I shouldn't be around you, and my father would kill me if he ever saw us. But you seem very gentlemanly." Elizabeth replied.

" Ah, so our little rendezvous is forbidden." I spoke. " All the more exciting I presume."

" Definitely." She replied with enthusiasm in her voice. " But if you compare it to Romeo and Juliet, I'll smack you in the face." She added. That made me laugh, I knew this already, but it was wonderful to be reassured that someone else in this world didn't romanticize Romeo and Juliet. It was a comedy, not a tragedy like the world seemed to think it was now.

I was there the opening night at the globe, the play was hilarious, the idiocy of Romeo and Juliet's 'love,' Mercutio's Queen Mab speech, the Nurse's way of being candid. The play was laced with enough sexual puns and comedy that it would take someone very illiterate in Shakespeare to believe it was a tragedy. Romeo's character was annoying enough that I found myself hoping Paris would take Juliet's hand in marriage the entire time.

" Mia cara, Romeo and Juliet is a comedy regarding the reactions of two hormonal adolescents and how their union ended up tearing apart, and bringing their families together."

" Well, it's not a ha-ha comedy, but I was sad when Mercutio died." Elizabeth replied.

" I must agree. Mercutio's, Tybalt's, and Paris' deaths were the only tragedies in that play. I cannot believe it is being taught as a comedy."

" Same here. When I read it in my sophomore year, my mom gave me this huge lecture about how it's actually a comedy and that anyone who says otherwise is an idiot." Elizabeth said. " My mom acted during her high school and college years, she knows a lot about these things."

" Ah yes, a woman of the arts. Are you a woman of the arts yourself my dear Elizabeth?" I asked, I knew she played bass already, but it struck up conversation.

" I play string bass." Elizabeth answered.

" Fascinating. I am a cellist. Are there any particular composers you like play?" I asked.

" Well, I generally play what the school gives me, but I do like Mozart, he gives the bass a decent part compared to other composers." She replied. Mozart was also another man I have seen in concert, I went to the premiere of his German opera, mostly to witness how hideously it botched, but I was astonished to see that it in fact was the work of genius.

" Mozart is a little simple for cello a good portion of the time, but since a bass's strings are different and a cello's, I assume you run into come difficulties." I told her. She nodded.

" Oh yes, Mozart is cruel when it comes to the bass part, but it at least presents a challenge, most of the other music I got in orchestra was quarter notes and simple eighth notes." Elizabeth told me

We spoke about music as sunset became nightfall, continuing our gentle, simple dance. The Christmas lights hung on the gazebo became more and more prominent. It must have been several hours that we spoke, because I actually started to see people leave the event.

" I believe your ride is waiting for you." I told Elizabeth.

" Oh! I lost track of time. Will I be seeing you again?" She asked as she took a couple steps, her hand still holding mine. She looked at me longingly, she didn't want to leave.

" If you look in the right place my dear Eliza." I told her. I kissed her hand once again. She blinked, which is when I thought it the perfect time to disappear into the night/. I was already starting to give her nicknames, I had no idea how I would be patient until our next meeting, which I would try to wait for until she was done with her college education.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

When I opened my eyes he was gone, like he was never there and I was just hallucinating like a crazy person. I walked to the limo, where I saw Mike and Tyler carrying their dates out bridal style, Eric and Angela following them.

" Oh my gosh! Liz! Who was the guy you were dancing with?" Jessica asked me, perched up in Mike's arms. So it was real and I wasn't insane.

" To be honest with you, I have no idea." I told her before getting into the limo.

The Limo dropped me off first, I whispered to Jessica to call me tomorrow and tell me if things went smoothly. I walked into my house and it was the rare occasion that my dad wasn't asleep on the couch with the TV on. I smiled, walking upstairs to change into some more comfortable clothes and to wash my makeup off.

It was one in the morning, yet I still wasn't tired. How could I sleep after meeting that man? He was just wonderful in so many ways, yet very, very mysterious. He obviously had no plans to hurt me, so why did he want to talk to me, an awkward high school girl?

If I never found him again, I was afraid that I would never know.


	9. Carnal

_Author's Note: This is more of a filler chapter, but there's a slight mention of smut in it. Enjoy my lovelies. _

Weeks passed since prom, everything was becoming tedious like it had at my old high school. Finals were coming up, which I was studying my ass for during the week. Though some days on the weekend, I would go down to the reservation or spend a few hours talking to Jessica, Angela, or one of my friends from Olympia on the phone.

Jessica and Mike were getting a whole lot more into PDA after their rendezvous after prom. It didn't bother me that they were doing it, it just bothered me that every time I saw people touch in a loving way, I thought of that man, who still invaded my dreams, which still resulted in the ultimate cock blocking.

Even studying for finals, I would just wonder what I would do if I ever saw him again. My guess after these few weeks of him invading my mind would be to give him a smack in the face. I wonder if he knew that I would be thinking about him, I bet he did, he seemed like some Casanova enough to know full well what women thought. He also was probably smiling smugly to himself, another woman bowing down at his feet.

Jessica asked me a lot of questions about this mystery man, most of them I couldn't answer, he could speak so much without revealing hardly any details about himself. She too wondered who he was, she didn't recognize him either.

Every time I would talk about him, I always saw the Cullen's eyes right on me, scrutinizing as I spoke, and whenever I stopped talking, they went back to their normal routine of sitting around, looking pretty, and not eating the school lunches that they bought. I wonder if Carlisle knew that he was wasting good money on food his kids didn't eat?

Alice was also becoming a much more prominent aspect of my life. We already were friends sort of, but now it was official. She and Jasper would sometimes sit down at my table, and my surprise, they actually engaged in conversation quite well. But wherever I was in school, Alice was always nearby. It was a little odd, but at the same time, I enjoyed her bubbly, happy aura following me around.

We were sitting in Calculus today when she tapped me gently on the shoulder. It was during a lecture, and Mr. Varner was getting a little more uptight about people talking lately. I looked at Alice, and she slid a written note on my desk. I felt like a rebel whenever I passed notes. I took it and read it carefully.

_You wanna go shopping and sleep over this weekend?_

I took my pencil and started writing my response. Fuck yes I would go shopping with Alice, I needed to know where in hell's name she shopped for clothes. I smiled, it would be an opportunity to get out of the house besides the res. I slid the note back to Alice.

_Yes. I'll have to check in with my dad first. I can't go to Seattle because of all the killings, and if I'm out of town, I need to be back in town around eight._

She gave me a pouty look, something in me knew that Seattle was her main goal when it came to shopping. She slid the paper back to me. She was both a fast, and neat writer.

_Aww man! I can settle on Tacoma, Tacoma has some good stores. But I can totally understand why your dad doesn't want you in Seattle. Carlisle was really opposed to me going to Seattle, now he has nothing to worry about._

_ *~*Alice*~*_

I was doing well when it came to keeping tabs on Elizabeth for Aro. He had stopped by a few weeks ago and told us that we were to keep a close eye on Elizabeth. He pretty much assigned me to be her bodyguard in case something happened.

Aro tended to take his orders lightly as long as they were followed, but he made sure it was perfectly clear this was no laughing matter. I told him that I had classes with her, so therefore, I was assigned to be her main sort of bodyguard. He also sent letters constantly asking if she was in any danger or not. I mean, I know he loves the girl, but come on! Really?

This shopping trip and sleepover, if her dad let her out of the house, would make it very easy for me to keep tabs on her over the weekend without stalking her. I also was dying to go shopping, and Rosalie, to my surprise, was uninterested. Which was completely lame, I wasn't about to go shopping by myself.

I was planning on dragging Jasper along with me, mostly because I needed for him to help me pick some new lingerie I was planning on getting, but also another pair of eyes looking after Elizabeth. I was sure I could keep Elizabeth occupied in a Victoria's Secret, she seemed like one of those girls who would try on some lingerie just for the fun of it, but was too scared someone would find out and call her out on it.

I could imagine the look on Aro's face if he read my mind after that happened.

I was a little sad that Seattle wouldn't be an option shopping wise. Once Mr. Varner allowed us to talk while doing homework, I told her that she could just rebel. She told me that she would feel completely guilty about it, and that she was honestly scared about what was going on in Seattle.

" Alright, I guess I can't force you to go to Seattle." I told her, internally laughing because I could force her anywhere if I wanted to. She smiled.

" Thanks, I'm glad you understand. After this whole Port Angeles incident, I just couldn't do that to my dad." Elizabeth said. I had nothing much to say, so I pulled the cat out of the bag and finally asked her a question I had been dying to ask.

" I have been trying not to ask since the whole school knows already, but who was that man you were dancing with a prom?" I asked her. I was curious to see what she thought of Aro.

" He never told me his name. All I know is that he's a cellist and he has taken an interest in me for who knows why?" Elizabeth answered, she was flustered when people asked about Aro, hardly being able to contain a smile. " Very old fashioned, but in the good way."

If only she knew how 'old fashioned' he was. He was born in ancient Greece for crying out loud! I wondered how much time he spent correcting historians, since he was there during a whole bunch of European history.

" He seems like it." I said. She smiled and bit her lip, I wish Edward was here so I could know what she was thinking. I secretly wondered if her thoughts about Aro were as sexual as my vision of them together. It would make sense the way she was flustered whenever someone spoke of him, like she was scared that someone would call her out on something.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

This long day was finally done. After about eight in the evening, I finished all the studying I needed to do for finals and took a long, hot bath. My dad told me that he wouldn't be back home from the police station until morning, several hikers had been savagely murdered earlier that day.

While in the bath, I found myself bored, so the odd solution my mind came up with was shaving my legs and pubic hair. Why? I had no idea, must have been some subconscious sexual thing that reminded my conscious mind that having body hair made me look like some Neanderthal.

I walked into my bedroom, somewhat dried off, a towel covering my body. I shed the towel from my body and threw it unceremoniously into my hamper. I stared straight at my bed, my mind nagging me that I needed to let out some of my pent up, more lewd frustrations.

I laid down on my bed and began. My hands caressed my own body, looking for a few parts of my body that were aching to be touched. I closed my eyes, my body sparked with life as I thought of _him_. Eventually, I assigned my left hand to treat my breasts, and my right hand slowly made its way to my unshaved mound. My index finger established a complete divide of my folds, which were wet as Washington's climate. My fingers, now covered in thick fluid, felt their way from just above my vagina to my clitoris just a small distance away.

The small nub of flesh was already sensitive to touch, generally, if I did decide to masturbate, it would take a while before my clit would really serve much of a purpose in arousing me. As I stimulated myself, I felt a wonderful coiling pressure in my lower abdomen. My muscles began to tense, and my left hand had to abandon its duty of fondling my breasts to grab onto my bed sheets, trying to release some of this new, superlative pressure.

A moan emerged from deep in my throat, louder than what I had expected. Afterwards, the moan was followed by series of more moans, whimpers, and grunts. I felt like I was coming close, though I couldn't be sure. I have touched myself on several occasions, but I never actually achieved an orgasm before.

My fantasies began to grow more vivid in my mind. Right now, I was imagining him fucking me from behind, whispering things in my ear that ranged from sweet nothings, to lewd comments that accentuated his dominance. Outside of the fantastical bedroom, we may have been equals, but once sex was involved, I became his "pet."

Not that I had a problem with that.

I was coming closer and closer to coming, moans and whimpers became petty in comparison the screams I conjured up. My body was shaking as my hips unwittingly thrust themselves against my hand. My left hand clung tighter to the sheets, something I thought wasn't possible. In my fantasy, he teased me by fucking me slower, but made up for t in that it was harder than what he had been doing. He tucked my hair behind my ear, and with his lips ghosting my ear, he whispered.

"Urlare il mio amore. Fammi vedere quanto ami questo." Which translated, if I was corrected, was something along the lines of 'Scream my love. Show me how much you love this.'

It was one little whisper from my fantasy that sent me over the edge, one little whisper was the catalyst that made me come long and hard, my raspy, guttural screams filling the room. This orgasm had lasted a good fifteen or twenty seconds before I collapsed and laid there on my bed, panting like a dog in the summer. My skin was a shade redder and was hot to the touch.

But then I felt alone again, I may have just came for the first time in my life, but I was left unsatisfied, since I wasn't in his arms right now, or got to see how he looked like after being satisfied like this.

I felt like I was obsessing over this man too much. It was definitely unhealthy, and if my parents knew I had danced with, and now having fantasies about a man probably closer to their age than mine, I didn't want to know what they would say.

My guess that on how nice he was dressed when I met him at prom, he was wealthy. He was probably out looking for some young girl to be his next trophy or something. Well, maybe not, he would have been feeling me up if that was the case, not talking to me about music and literature. Or maybe he liked his whores with half a brain.

But maybe it had nothing to do with picking some sort of trophy girlfriend, if he had wanted to do that, he certainly wouldn't have sought after me. So if it wasn't that, what was it? Trying to figure that goddamned man out was hurting my brain! Why must we women fall for men of mystery instead of some normal guy that's thought process is simple and easily understood?

I decided that it was best that I actually get some pajamas on and go to sleep, I was really tired, it had been a long day, and masturbating took the last of the remaining energy out of me.

Once I was clothed and laid back down on my bed, I tried to think about something other than finals and that bastard who was the king of my sexual fantasies. I almost succeeded, but I fell asleep before I could dwell on it too much.


	10. Graduation Complications

_ Author's Note: Alright, this chapter is graduation, so within the next few chapters is when shit starts getting real. I thank The Burlesque Mistress 92 for giving me a good idea in her review, which I will take some bits and pieces of._

Today was surreal, today was the day I have been waiting for since I had started school, graduation.

I got my WSU acceptance letter a week before finals, and my scholarship was in action. I called my mom about it, and she was proud. Sadly, work kept her in China, so she couldn't come to my gradation. Dad was going to film the moment I got my diploma. I thought it was very sweet what dad was doing, it would have killed my mom if she didn't get to see anything.

Right now, I was walking downstairs in my cap and gown, feeling very strange that I was finally wearing this. My dad was downstairs with the camera, snapping a photo before turning the camera off and putting it in it's carrying case. I hoped it was a good picture, because I knew with dad's one picture habit, I wasn't getting another one.

" Hey high school grad!" My dad said, sweeping me up into a bear hug. I smiled, hugging him back with all my strength. When I dad finally let me go, I could see a smile wide across his face. " Wow, what happened to the five year old who had tea parties with fish? Or the nine year old during her tomboy phase with the short haircut and reading Harry Potter in a tree?" My dad asked. I laughed, remembering both of those contrasting phases of my life.

" She's right here in a dorky robe and a dorky hat." I said. My dad chuckled before patting me on the back.

" You ready to go?" He asked. I nodded. We headed out to the car, dad giving me an umbrella so I didn't get my gown and cap all wet.

The school parking lot was full, which was something you never saw on a regular school day. So many relatives of the graduating class were here to witness their fellow kin claim a key to success.

" Gran and Gramps are going to be here." My dad said. He was talking about his parents. I haven't seen them since last Christmas, so it would be exciting to see them again.

Dad and I finally found a parking spot, where next to it was Tyler's van. Tyler then bolted out of the van, cheering in the pouring rain as his cap and gown got soaked. I was laughing hysterically, while my dad was giving me a look.

" Please don't tell me your friends with that kid." Dad told me. There was silence, soon to be broken by dad's sigh and muttering something about kids these days before getting out of the car.

" Hey Tyler? What the hell man?" I asked when out of the car, the umbrella keeping me dry. Tyler laughed and put an arm around my shoulder, finding a way to fit himself in the small umbrella.

" Come on Liz! Find some festivity. We're done with high school! We survived! I went out of high school knowing that all the sports I was in had a good season!" Tyler said, staying under my umbrella until we got inside. He saw Lauren and went off and talked to her.

I saw Gran and Gramps over by one of the vending machines. My kooky grandfather was having trouble getting the dollar into the machine. Gran kept on telling him that he needed to make sure the dollar had no folds, but Gramps was so frustrated he dismissed her entirely. Gran has a knack for being always right, and Gramps, after almost fifty years of marriage, still didn't realize it yet.

" Look dear! Our Elizabeth is here and is all grown up." Gran said, hitting Gramps gently with her purse so he would look up to see me. Gramps smiled and walked over to me, giving me a hug.

" Well, if it ain't Lil' Liz." Gramps said. Lil' Liz was Gramps' nickname for me. " Except you ain't Lil' Liz, Lil' Liz is still too young to get her diploma. Frank, are you sure this is your kid?" My grandpa asked my dad jokingly, laughing to himself.

Gran hugged me tight and fond memories came back to me when feeling her flannel sweater. Gran and I had a special relationship, she was someone I could talk to about anything in the world. Gran was a kind woman who would listen before she judged. We had our disagreements at times if we talked about politics since she was a fairly conservative Republican, and I was more liberal. It was always interesting to hear a different point of view, and we also agreed on a lot of things politically.

" Oh Elizabeth, you look so wonderful. You remind me of your mother when she was at her graduation ceremony." My grandmother said. She had a North Londoner accent which she got from my British great grandfather.

" I'm so excited! The anticipation will be greater since my last name is near the end of the alphabet." I said. Gran chuckled before straightening out my gown and cap, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

" There, that's better. When I heard about you getting accepted into WSU with that brilliant scholarship, I was so proud." Gran said. " Do you know what you want to be?"

" I was thinking about being a teacher actually." I told her.

" Oh, which level?"

" I really doesn't matter, probably not college."

" You could get hired. I know you have an enthusiasm for history, and also with you playing bass, you could make a lovely music teacher." My grandma said. " I'm sure you could probably do both and get hired for it."

" Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking. I just have spent so much of my life in school. Actual school, bass, helping build sets for the school plays, I just don't see myself being pulled out of that environment anytime soon." I told Gran, she smiled.

" Hey Liz! It's starting!" My dad told me. I said bye to Gran and Gramps and looked for a place to sit among the students. I found a spot open next to Angela and sat down next to her.

" Oh my gosh! Isn't this so exciting?" Angela said in a squee. I smiled and nodded, excited for the events about to come.

Graduation was a slow, but fascinating event. Jessica was the valedictorian and gave a wonderful speech that she had been working very hard on, I would see her get advice from Eric and Angela. The valedictorian speech was one I wouldn't forget.

Then it came receiving diplomas. I watched as my friends and classmates all got their diplomas with a smile. Family members of students cried from happiness, never before were they so proud of that student. Graduation proved to be a lot more emotional than I thought it was.

Finally, my name would be called soon. I was nervous, even though I shouldn't have been nervous to walk up to a podium and receive my diploma. Maybe it was because this was such an important right of passage I didn't want to stumble or anything.

" Elizabeth Ward!"

That was my cue. I stood up and walked up to the podium, looking right at my father who was filming me right now. When I felt the diploma go into my hand, a surge of happiness swept through me. I looked out in the audience as I walked away from the podium. My smile went down a little bit.

He was back, watching me intently, staring into my very soul. I just kept on walking, pretending that I didn't see him. I resurrected my previous smile and watched as Angela got her diploma right after I did.

After graduation, as planned, I rode with Tyler, Jessica, and Mike to go to the Cullen's graduation party. We were all screaming and cheering. I actually had to tell Tyler to slow down when he was driving, but in secret, it added to the thrills and excitement of no longer being a high school student. So immaturity made losing an image of immaturity more exciting, which was quite the oxymoron.

When we got to the Cullen's house, we shed our caps and gowns to reveal the clothes we decided to wear to the party. I remember being told by Alice to dress relatively nice for this party. So I decided it was time to my body hugging white dress with a black waist belt.

Alice greeted us in. I remember being at her house during our sleepover, and personally, I don't think that I wouldn't ever be left breathless when seeing the Cullen's house. It didn't quite fit in with the rest of Forks, it was like opening a door in Forks and ending up in Seattle.

More people started dropping by, they were definitely curious about how the Cullens lived. They were just as shocked as I was when walking into the house for the first time. Since it was now made into a nightclub like scene, people were definitely digging it.

After half an hour of hanging out and chatting about graduation, I noticed that he also decided to attend this party. He looked at me from across the room, giving me a come hither motion with his long middle and index fingers. I did, I had more questions for him now.

Why was it whenever seeing him, all I had in mind was questions and fucking?

He lead my outside away from the party scene, leading me around one of the house corners. I leaned back against the wall, and he was just inches in front of me.

" Are you just going to show up to the most important events of my life and magically disappear?" I asked, it sounded bitterer and bitchy than I had intended it to be, but the way this man was screwing with my mind was getting to be too much. Now that I thought about it, I had every right to be.

" Good evening to you as well mia cara." He replied sarcastically. I breathed out my nose, the air was visible it was cold enough outside. " And yes, for now." He added.

" What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

" Soon, there will be a time where I'm not going to, quote, 'magically disappear' anymore. But for now, I will have to." He said.

" Why? Why are you even doing this?" I asked him, a stern look on my face.

" You will know that in the near future." He replied.

" You know what? What if I don't want to know? What if I don't even want to talk to you?" I said, trying to walk away, but he planted his hand on the wall of the house, his arm acting like a security rail to keep me from escaping.

" You know that is a lie." He said very slowly, articulating each syllable.

" You're right. I'm just annoyed thought that I can't seem to get a simple answer from you. I don't like how your answers are just puzzles that just leave me with more questions."

" I like a woman who knows what she wants." He said to me, his free hand picking up mine and kissing it. But he suddenly grew a worried, shocked look. He stared at me, not a word was spoken for several seconds, the only sounds were of cold, nighttime forest.

" Pardon me dear." He said. " I'm afraid I am going to have to leave you. Enjoy the rest of the party, I'm sure your friends are eager to know where you are." He added, backing away a few steps.

Of course I had to blink, and of course when I opened my eyes again, he was nowhere to be seen.

_*~*Aro*~*_

I was not prepared for that.

When I read her mind and saw that one memory of that night. Her soft, curvaceous body completely nude, her long hair wet, a few stray water droplets caressing her bare form. Oh, but this wasn't all, this was only the beginning.

Laying down upon her bed, she caressed her body, her breasts receiving special attention, making sure her soft, pink nipples became peaked. Her breasts looked the perfect size for my hands, so that I would be able to handle her entire breast with no gap in my hands, and no part of her breasts left untouched.

Her hand wandered between her legs, and that was when her fantasies began to really show through. She imagined me fucking her from behind on her bed. I thought this was adorable, the idea of me on a modern bed. Little did she know is that when I would finally take her to bed, it would be in Italy, and the bed I would take her on was fit for a king.

When she came, and I learned it was the first time touching herself that she actually climaxed, I felt honored that I was on her mind. She was beautiful when she came, screaming, her back arching and her hand desperately clinging onto the sheets. I wish I told her my name now, so then she would have known what to scream.

As wonderful as it was to see that memory, it landed me in a predicament. My cock was becoming erect.

" Damn." I growled to myself, unzipping my trousers, taking my cock in hand. " Why does that woman have to be so titillating?"

I imagined her wrists tied to my bed, and her legs spread apart to accommodate me. She was giving me an innocent, yet coquettish look that was begging me to come closer. So I did, grabbing her thighs and positioning myself and sliding gently into her tight, dripping quim. My hand could not come close to simulating how tight her quim was in her memory, it was almost completely clenched together, threatening to become tighter and tighter until she came.

" Elizabeth." I groaned longingly, wishing that she was here in place of my hand. But, I was making myself wait for her to mature some more, it was what was best for her. No matter how much I wanted her, I cared for her too much to ignore her best interests.

I was coming close, my screaming echoed through the forest, at least I was a few miles from the Cullen's residence. That would have been extremely gauche if I was in hearing distance. Thick white liquor began to ooze from my phallus's tip.

My climax was satisfactory, yet unsatisfactory at the same time. Satisfactory since it was an orgasm, and I had Elizabeth on my mind. But it was unsatisfactory because _she_ wasn't here. I found myself more so unaccompanied than I was before.

I never guessed that finding a mate would take the pleasure away from anything erotic unless if they were involved. I knew it would be more pleasurable, but I never speculated it was vital to experience the more complex mental satisfaction that came from sex.


	11. Four Years Later

_Author's Note: From here on out, just assume people are speaking in Italian, I'll specify when there is a switch back to English._

**05/14/10: FOUR YEARS LATER:**

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

College was a fantastic time for me. I met so many more people I could relate to. I loved my friends in Olympia and Forks, I just couldn't relate to a good portion of them. College was definitely one of the hardest, but best times of my life. The bullshit that happened in high school wasn't existent in college, or if it was, it was completely over my head.

I was almost finished as well. I continued to work on my dream of becoming a teacher. I also got an opportunity from one of my professors. There was a secondary school teacher in Italy, Mrs. Isabel Rossi, who was looking for a teacher to take over after she retired. She had tried many other student teachers, but all of them failed to meet her high standards. My Italian Professor, Professor Richard Rossi, was her twin brother, and he recommended me to her, and made plans that I would do my student teaching portion in Italy.

I was excited, I was finally able to go to Italy at last. I would definitely have to go to every Renaissance landmark possible during my stay. I also was ecstatic that I was going to live in Volterra, one of the many places around the world my great grandmother has ventured.

Right now, I was on a tour bus that was making its way to Volterra. I stared out the window, marveling at the beauty of the setting sun, and Tuscan aura to the farms surrounding Volterra. It was so surreal that I had the potential to live in this beautiful place, having the career I had always dreamed of. It was like some fairytale, except, it didn't really require a Prince Charming.

The tour bus stopped a few blocks away from the motel I would be staying at. I took my old trunk that was once my great grandmother's, tipped the bus driver, and walked to the motel. Volterra on the inside was just as beautiful as the farmland surrounding it, there was just so much going on.

For example, I saw a notice that tomorrow, there was a festival to celebrate a man called Caius, who I remember from my college history course, that he was a ruthless knight that legend said, took down an entire Persian army with nothing but a dagger. I was certain that the legend wasn't true, that Caius had some assistance from the army he led, but it was a good story.

I checked into the motel and immediately was looking for a good, inexpensive apartment I could live in. I eventually found one, to sum it up, it was rather shitty looking, but it wasn't covered in mold nor had extensive damage. It was also the least expensive one in Volterra.

Tomorrow, I would go and get the room from the landlord, but for now, I just wanted to walk around Volterra. The sun had almost disappeared over the horizon by the time I was out the door, the last sliver of blue and orange sky was almost swallowed whole by the black of night.

I walked through the closing marketplaces, watching as goods were put back in boxes and crates to be taken back to where they came from. I got curious looks from the vendors, most of the tourists would be resting in their hotel rooms at this hour, most of the interesting happenings occurred in the day.

Or so they liked to make us think.

I saw the iconic marble fountain in front of the Volturi mansion. I sat down on it and looked up at the mansion, admiring its architectural beauty, I would definitely have to take a tour in there during my stay. Maybe I would do it tomorrow during the festival to celebrate Caius.

I looked into the window, and I could have sworn I saw an apparition I haven't seen since my senior year of high school. I stood bolt upright, backing away to see if I could get a closer look.

I couldn't be sure, but there was definitely someone standing there, watching me with a sharp eye. A gust of wind came from the north, making what appeared to be a cloak billow out, making this figure more ominous.

" Hello?" I asked, walking closer to the mansion, somehow, I was being drawn closer, it was a feeling of being drawn that I hadn't felt in years.

The figure didn't come to me at that moment, but then I had a hunch that if it was the person I was thinking of, maybe if I blinked, he would appear right in front of me. So I did blink, my eyes were closed longer than necessary, I was just mentally preparing myself for what I might end up seeing. When I opened my eyes, no amount of mental preparation could have really done me a favor when seeing two red eyes looking right into mine.

It was the man who made the last part of my senior year a living hell, but his eyes, they weren't blue. I was considering running away, but I jut couldn't move, all I could do was stare right into those red eyes.

After I got over the fact he had red eyes, I slung my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly to me. Tears of happiness were actually forming in my eyes. Seeing him now made me realize just how much I missed him.

" Elizabeth." He said, his arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me closer to him. " I have missed you my dear."

" Four years, you were gone, for four god damned years." I said sobbing. " I don't know how I can miss someone as much as I have missed you, especially that I barley know you."

" All that matters is that you're here. I have much to tell you." He said.

" Finally." I said, he chuckled, pulling me even tighter against him. " Can you start with your name at least?" I asked.

" Aro." He whispered. I mouthed the name, it rolled right off my tongue. " Would you walk with me my dear?" He asked. I nodded against his shoulder. I pulled away from his embrace and began to walk with him through the rest of Volterra.

" First of the many things I wish to tell you, will leave you shocked, and possibly terrified. Have you ever wondered if there was something, inhuman about me?" Aro asked. I nodded. " Naturally, you would. It is the last of true human instincts that is common in every human. I am sure you have guessed many times about what I was, and I am sure by now, you have pieced the puzzle together."

" Vampire." I said.

" Exactly. I am not some friendly puppet vampire that does basic mathematics though." He continued. I started laughing hysterically. " I am the general mythological package. I drink human blood, I burn if exposed to the sun for too long, and I am immortal. Before you ask, I do not sleep in coffins, I honestly have no idea how that legend came about." Aro looked at me, noticing the unsettled look on my face. " Are you frightened my dear?"

" It would take an idiot not to be. I mean, you're the predator, and I am prey, it's a natural cycle of fear." I said.

" Are you repulsed by me?" Aro asked. I shook my head.

" Why should I be? You're at the top of the food chain, it's in your nature. It's like stigmatizing cats for eating birds." I said, smiling.

" And if I told you there are some vampires who abstain from drinking human blood, and feed from animals instead?"

" You can feed a cat vegetables, but it will not make it any more moral. In the end, it will always crave the bird." I said.

" I am grateful for your philosophy on the matter. Not many are as understanding of us as you are."

" So, am I a dead woman walking?" I asked Aro.

" Never." He replied. " The second thing I wish to explain to you, is that some of our kind has special abilities. Mine being that I can read every thought and memory in your mind with a simple touch."

I stopped, I assumed I had a deer in the headlights look on my face. No wonder Aro completely bailed after he touched me at the graduation party, he knew everything, every little secret and fantasy that was inside my mind. I wanted to find a cliff and jump off it I was so embarrassed.

" Oh god! I am so sorry you had to see what is inside my head! That is not a fate that no one should have." I apologized. Aro laughed and cupped my cheek with his hand, looking me right in the eye.

" I have read many minds that are worse than yours. I am used to obscure, risqué thoughts inside people's heads. I found yours rather entertaining." Aro told me. " Also, what I saw the night you graduated, do not be embarrassed by that, it was among the most beautiful things I have ever seen."

" Did you really have to bring that up? It's humiliating." I told him.

" Sexuality is something that should never bring humiliation. That is one of the terrible flaws of humans, making something so primeval into something that brings needless controversy. I have lived in time periods where people were condemned to death and torture for sexual acts outside of marriage. Many people this day in age believe it was more often than not women who suffered these chastisements, but just as many men suffered as well." Aro said.

" I do not wish to seem like a whore, which if I am not bashful about sex, I would be seen as such." I stated. " I have never been considered a whore, and I don't plan on it."

" Which my darling, is your choice entirely. But I just want to let you know, you do not have to act ashamed around me." Aro told me. " Also, one final thing I will tell you tonight, is that I apparently have been predestined to love you. It is not something I can control. You feel it as well, don't tell me you don't, I have seen it in your mind."

" I never said I didn't." I told him.

" Knowing you, you would have said something impertinent just for the sake of defying me."

" Maybe when I was eighteen, but I honestly feel it too. It's more than love, it's more complex. Never did anyone prepare us for this. It leaves me rather clueless of what to do." I said.

" Might I make a suggestion my love?" Aro asked. I looked at him quizzically and nodded.

The hand that was on my cheek brought my face closer to his until the gap between us was sealed with a kiss. It was wonderful, the way pleasure made its cry where Aro's lips touched mine. My heart was beating faster, for reasons of love, and fear. I was being kissed by a man who could just as easily cause pain as he did pleasure. Finally, some of our frustrations could be let out, but new frustration would build up when our lips went their separate ways. This is when I accepted that the frustration I have been feeling for more than four years would never cease, but at least they could be released now that I had Aro.

His touch, powerful, invigorating, and territorial, making it known to all that I belonged to him, and his alone. The consequences if one tried to get between us, would be fatal without trial. I would have to stake my claims for the world to know that he was as much mine as I was his.

Our mouths parted, the tongues that had once been in a dance together retreated back to where they were bound. My eyes opened to look at Aro's lips, that had been satisfied with mine, for they turned into a cunning smirk to match the devilish look in his eyes.

" What a wonderful suggestion." I told him, my lips quivering from shock that this was actually reality and not some dream my eighteen year old self would be having. He chuckled, his hand moving down to my neck, though his thumb stayed at my face, caressing my cheek.

" I am made of many." Aro spoke, his voice was lower than it had been before, making my heart skip a beat, and my eyelids fluttered. " Something I need to discuss with you is your living situation. I would much rather you live with me than live in those ghastly apartments."

" Do you even have a bed, being a vampire, not sleeping and all of that?" I asked him. " Also, how much would the rent be?"

" My dear Elizabeth, of course I have a bed, that is not used for sleeping." Aro said. I gasped quietly, imagining him with some woman every night. My god did I envy any and every woman who had been taken to that bed. " Also, you would stay in my company for no charge."

" I think that would be wonderful. It's not everyday you're offered free housing when you're a college student." I told him, not even believing that I wouldn't have to speak to the landlord of those horrible apartments. " Where do you live?" I asked. " I'm a little tired right now."

We walked back to the fountain in the town square, Aro gestured with his hand that it was the mansion he lived in. There was no way this could be real, the fact that I was going to live in one of the world's most beautiful building, and even less realistic that I would be living there with no charge.

" You can't be serious." I gasped.

" I am entirely." Aro said with a chuckle. With superhuman speed, he was suddenly at the door, holding it open for me. " After you my darling."

" I need my luggage, it is at the motel I'm staying in." I said.

" I'll send someone for your luggage, but for now, you need rest. You have an important day ahead of you." Aro said with a smile.

" Thank you." I said, walking through the door to reveal an estate that was even more surreal than a fairytale castle.

History was its walls, art was its foundation, and sophistication was its roof. Everything that was going to change in my life started once I passed through that door. It was established that I was in a relationship with my lover, and our physical bond has finally sealed itself, for its mental bond was there when we saw each other.


	12. Eye for an Eye

_Author's Note: Well, this is the first lemon. There's a lot of awkwardness prior to it. So yeah, woohoo. _

Teaching was going well, at least I thought so. Mrs. Rossi seemed interested in the way I taught, the updated American way. Kids were doing well in the classroom. I kept calm as I would lecture, if there was any disturbance, I would continue my calm attitude and say something witty. I would also find some sort of joke within the English word. I was shocked that they were actually laughing at my jokes and calm wit. I guess the teaching methods of my high school biology teacher in Olympia worked well in Italy as well.

Right when I walked into the room, I could already see the American stereotypes in the class, except for the football with the touchdowns and dorky helmets, it was football, or as we Americans like to call it, soccer.

There were a few troublesome athletes in my classroom who wouldn't shut up about their soccer games, and no amount of scolding in the classroom would shut them up. I was actually considering sending them to see their headmaster, hopefully, Italy wasn't like America where the school athletes could do whatever they wanted without consequence.

Grading that teacher's assignments was a pain in my ass! She didn't do the whole multiple choice thing on her assignments and tests, so that meant I got to spend six hours a night grading half the class' assignments. It reminded me of a night during high school with an frightening amount of homework. At least American teachers were lazy and made everything multiple choice!

Aro allowed me to use his personal study to work, most of the time he was off doing some sort of king of the vampire world type stuff. It was a very quiet room, I could just put on some music and there would ne no other sounds besides my pen scratching of paper.

When I was in school, I was never such a big weekend person, but after teaching, I was very excited for the weekend. Nothing to grade, no misbehaving students to give the stink eye, no being under the critical eye of Mrs. Rossi, just peace and relaxation.

I got back to the Volturi manor after a quick, fun Friday. I met all of the Volturi guard the morning after I arrived, all seemed welcoming, some even were excited to see I was here. Despite them all being vampires, I had a stupid self confidence that they probably wouldn't attack me, well, everyone but Caius.

Caius had been gracious in my welcome, he just frightened me. Whenever I was in the same room with him, he would scrutinize me with an angry glare. Aro told me not to worry about Caius, that it was just how he was, and he wouldn't harm a hair on my head.

Their human secretary, Arianna, welcomed me in. Arianna was very kind, and it was nice to have another human around to talk to who wasn't scrutinizing me or an adolescent. She asked how my day was, I told her it was fine before moving down the first set of hallways, only to meet Heidi, who was carrying a box in her hands.

" Oh, Elizabeth. I was bored last night, so I went shopping, I figured you would like this." Heidi said with a smiled. I took the box, I was about to open the top when she stopped me. " Keep it surprise for Master Aro." She said with a smirk. " Make sure you are alone when you put this on, and have him see you in this before you touch him." After that little statement, I knew exactly what it was, lingerie.

" Thank you. Are you planning our fucking or something?" I asked rather bluntly. Heidi laughed.

" Oh, I wasn't the one planning." Heidi said. I mouthed 'oh' when realizing that this was all part of Aro's plan, except the mystery box of lingerie. " He hasn't slept with another woman since he's heard about you. He was conducting this experiment on female sexuality, has been for a couple centuries. He has been deprived of sex for over four years, which even for us is a long time." Heidi told me. " Master Aro should be back by nightfall."

" Thank you." I told her, the first thing I was worried about was getting everything done before nightfall. There was shaving my legs and crotch. Bathing, I really didn't want my vagina to smell like fish. Then there was waiting for hair to dry afterwards. Put on lingerie, maybe a little makeup I had with my just in case. Yeah, I wasn't grading the assignments that were done on Friday, on Friday. I would be too busy getting laid for the first time ever.

Sex sounded very good to me right now, being a teacher had been more time consuming than I had pictured. I was around the same people a lot, not having any strong interactions with them. Many times when I was at the manor, Aro was off somewhere, killing newborn vampires who failed to kill conspicuously, or something along those lines.

After hours of making sure every little thing about my body was fine, and my hair was dry, I finally opened the box, I was a little frightened of what I might find in that white cardboard box and underneath all the paper wrappings.

The outcome was a black chemise, which in the lingerie world, meant something that goes down a couple inches past your butt and was entirely see through lace. This one was like that, but it had off shoulder long sleeves. I also found a g string, garter, and stockings in there too. It was lingerie that showed skin, but still left some things to the imagination.

After putting on the lingerie, I gave myself one last check to make sure that I was good. My legs were not just shaved below the knee, but above as well, that was where all my panic had been going, if I had smooth legs. I remember showing up at a summer camp during my teen years without shaving, Sasquatch was my nickname among my other teenage peers. Ever since then, if I was even going to show an ankle, I had to shave my legs, it just frightened me that much.

I started having a miniature panic attack of many petty things. What if he didn't think I was sexy enough, what if I got knocked up (I had been taking birth control during my college years, so it was a very unlikely fate,) what if I sucked in bed? All of those petty questions ran through my head. I was now legitimately frightened to go out there and do the dirty. It made me wonder how Jessica was so confident when she talked about doing Mike after prom.

" I can do this." I said while looking in the mirror. There was a long silence and I just stared in the mirror. " Oh fuck that, I can't!" I said, starting to pace around the bathroom, I looked at the time on my phone. It was seven, so that meant Aro should have been back soon. I didn't know how I was going to calm down before then, and I really didn't want Aro seeing me during a nervous breakdown. But he was going to see it anyways since he could read minds.

I was now curled up in the far back corner of the bathroom, doing my best not to start bawling and calm down. I seriously needed a joint or something to calm me down, because taking deep breaths wasn't working so well for me.

I heard someone knocking on the door that led to the bedroom. It was Aro. I cringed at the thought of Aro seeing me like this, so I kept silent, even though I knew it was in vain.

" Elizabeth? Are you alright?" I heard Aro ask.

" Yeah." I murmured weak and unconvincingly. I heard the door open, I stood bolt upright and tried to compose myself in the few seconds it took for Aro to slowly open the bathroom door. He was a little surprised to see me in lingerie. " This isn't how it was exactly intended how you'd see me in lingerie for the first time. It was supposed to be confident and horny, and then it turned into me having a nervous breakdown." I explained myself.

" Elizabeth, in all of my three thousand years, I have never came across a virgin who didn't have a nervous breakdown at one point." Aro said. The words declined some of the pressure I was feeling. My lips curved into a quick smile. Aro walked over to me, putting his arms around my waist, seeing every part of my mental breakdown.

" Darling, press your body closer to me." Aro said, I did, wondering what he was trying to accomplish. I felt a large bulge pressing hard against my lower abdomen. " Do you feel that?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded. " You are the most desirable creature I have ever laid eyes on."

I kissed him, feeling more confident about my sexual abilities. He lifted me up in his arms, and took me to his bed. Laying me down gently on the bed, and got on proceeded to get his body on top of me. I removed the clip pendant from his hair before I forgot, which freed the long, black hair. I adored his long hair, it gave him even more sex appeal.

" As becoming as lingerie is on you." Aro said, tearing the chemise from top to bottom and disposing of it. My breasts were now exposed to him, they felt chilled by the cool nighttime air that came from the open window. " In reality, it is just another layer covering up what I desire, and a very teasing layer at that." Aro hissed.

" I could say the same for those robes." I said. My hands undid the silver fastening on his cloak and pushed it off his shoulders, to reveal the robes he wore. " You had it easy with me, I on the other hand don't have the strength to tear clothing apart." I said while I unbuttoned and removed his billowy robes to reveal Aro's pale torso and well built arms.

Before I could continue removing his clothes, he grabbed my wrists firmly and placed them both in his right hand before placing them above my head. Aro's lips came in contact with mine again. His increasingly lustful kisses wandered to my neck, and quickly found a weak spot at the crook of my neck, my lips parted. When he began to suck and gently nibble the sensitive flesh, soft moans passed through my parted lips.

Soon, his lips became more daring, venturing further down my body, licking the cleft between my breasts with a precise tongue. Aro's tongue, keeping its cautious precision of where to move, now tasted my keen nipple, his free hand that wasn't holding my wrists over my head, rubbing and pinching the nipple that wasn't receiving oral attention with his thumb and forefinger. Pleasurable sensations from my breasts panned out to the rest of my torso, which resulted in my instinctual, unwilling heave of my chest and small arch of my spine. For such a chilling tongue, it set my body ablaze.

When his mouth transitioned to my other breast, he finally freed my wrists, in an instant, my arms clung to him tightly. The hand that kept my wrists imprisoned bent my knees, caressing up my thighs until he could remove the stockings and g string. Now, my body was fully exposed to him, and without the g string, the aroma of arousal between my thighs filled our noses.

Without warning, Aro lifted up my legs, putting my thighs on his shoulders. He kissed the two blushing creases of flesh that hid the rest of my vaginal anatomy, before his tongue finally was put to use again in parting the two folds of flesh to taste the thick liquid that oozed from my core.

His performance of cunnalingus left me a moaning, squeaking mess, but I felt so much pleasure, I didn't dwell on it too much. Aro's hunger for my quim was ravenous, his tongue swirling around my clit with deadly accuracy. When there was a sufficient amount of fluid to lap up, Aro did not waste the opportunity, but as he drank from me, his upper lip continued to massage my clit until his tongue became available once more.

My back began to arch more, and I unwittingly rolled and thrust my hips at Aro's talented mouth. Aro's hands moved themselves from my thighs to grab my ass, kneading the smooth, plump flesh between his long fingers. My hands clung to the bed sheets, my fingernails dug into the palm of my hand. Something I was certain of, was that I was coming close, my embarrassing squeaky moans became louder, echoing around the bedchamber. My breathing grew more and more shallow with every passing second that Aro's tongue stimulated me carnally.

Aro knew this too, but instead of allowing me to finish like a kind man woul have, he stopped, placing my lower body back on the bed. I groaned, giving him a begging glare. He simply giggled, it was rather maniacal, proving that he was just doing this to tease me, like he did for many things.

" Tease." I snarled at him.

" Am I the tease? I personally think not." He took my hand and placed it on the crotch of his trousers, which had turgid protuberance that swelled even more against my small hand. " Eye for an eye my love. I pleasure you, you pleasure me." Aro said before his hands went to his trousers, unbuttoning and unzipping to reveal that he wasn't wearing any sort of underwear at all.

" No underwear?" I asked, hoping to get an answer out of the chucking fool, who's thick cock was pointed straight at me.

" Special for tonight my darling." Aro said, kneeling before me, spreading my legs apart. His body came closer to mine, his cock brushing up against my core, I felt it twitch upward slightly, which set a jolt of surprise, and lust. " This might hurt a little." Aro warned me. I braced myself, my hand gripped his biceps, ready to claw into them if needed.

I cringed a little bit when he slipped into me, it was a little painful for such a sensitive area, but I had felt worse. Aro's biceps did wonders as a way to release the tension from pain. My eyes, which were squinted, began to open a little bit. Aro was completely still, waiting for my quim to adjust.

His fingers dipped down to where my hymen was, and they came back up after I felt a stinging sensation. There was blood on his pale fingers, which he put up to his mouth and sucked on them. I was personally in a state of panic, and wondering what the fuck he was doing, but then I reminded myself, he was a vampire, vampires by definition liked blood. I'm also sure that the blood of a virgin had something special to it, or maybe that was as ridiculous as the sleeping in coffins myth.

He leaned down to press his torso against mine, his mouth sucking the sensitive spot at the crook of my neck. Our bodies began to move at the same, slow pace. His chest was pressed against mine, and my breasts moved him smoothly as he went up, and I went down to our hips would meet, and his cock as deep inside me as possible.

Aro and I began to get more vocal. His deep moans contrasting with my high pitched ones. Aro whispered sweet nothings in my ear, sometimes taking a break between words to let out a loud groan.

He could read my mind, so there was no need to say faster and harder. It was wonderful to have a partner who knew what you were thinking, and what you desired the most. Also, having a man with almost three thousand years of experience and talent, he knew enough about the female body already.

My quim grew tighter around him, and as it did, I could feel his cock twitch inside of me. It was absolutely amazing how Aro was able to maintain quality lovemaking with his manhood going in different angles, how well he was practiced to know how to reposition himself or his partner.

Climax was something that began to approach both of us. Our sex had gone from gentle to wild and animalistic. His hands tangled in my hair while my fingernails raked up and down his back. If I thought we were vocal before, we made our past expressions of pleasure seem like silence. Our screams could probably have been heard all throughout the estate.

" Aro!" I shrieked, my body shook from violent muscle contractions. " Don't stop! Don't stop!"

Aro's hands moved back to my hips, hoping them down to his pelvis so he could make short, hard thrusts.

" My god, you're so tight!" Aro hissed, he growled, his handle on me became more firm and dominant than it had before.

Before we could even predict where we would meet our end, he came, cold semen filled my quim so that it leaked out and ran down both of our genitalia. I followed only seconds after. Our passionate cries soon became shallow breaths, and our bodies moved no more.

Aro moved off of my sweaty, hot body, and laid down beside me, stroking my skin which had gone several shades redder after climaxing. I wondered if he thirsted for my blood, since now it ran faster through my system. But, his self control shined though despite this. He wrapped his arms around me as I laid my head and hand on his chest.

" That was fantastic." I muttered quietly, my voice was just about gone from all of the screaming I had done.

" I couldn't agree more Elizabeth. You look exhausted." Aro said, putting a wild strand of hair behind my ear.

" I am absolutely exhausted." I told him. He chuckled, his arms around me tightened, and he kissed my forehead.

" Rest my love, you deserve it." Aro told me. He didn't have to tell me twice, this week had been an exhausting one, and there were more exhausting ones to come. For now though, I fell asleep in Aro's arms, the slumber completely dreamless and invigorating.


	13. Fear Makes Her Distant

_Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Smutlette and really weird chapter._

I generally disliked waking up early in the morning, but today, sitting in the breakfast nook, swallowing my pill down with black tea while watching the sunrise was wonderful. Aro sat across from me, at the moment we were speaking more like friends than lovers. During the week I was here, I learned that Aro wasn't always so mysterious, he was rather playful and immature when not ruling his kingdom.

Arianna walked in with a small loaf of bread and sliced fruit. I thanked her when she set the plate of food on the table, and she left with a gentle smile. Aro at the moment turned his attentions back to an old book that lay on his lap.

This quiet moment was perfect, it was a silence that didn't need to be filled, and if it was, it would seem like it was rudely interrupted. Now that I was done with my tea and there was no risk of it spilling on my student's assignments, I began grading them as I ate. Grading was getting less difficult with every paper, maybe since I was complaining less about it.

" Eliza my darling." Aro spoke. He had been calling me Eliza more often than not, it didn't bother me, it was certainly much prettier sounding than Liz. I looked up from my papers to let him know he had my undivided attention. " I was planning, if nothing came up, to show you around Volterra better tonight, since you haven't had a proper tour."

" That sounds lovely. Are you going to tell me where we are going?" I asked him. " Or are you going to surprise me?"

" What would this tour be without the element of surprise?" Aro said, as if I should have known earlier. I chuckled to myself, quickly finishing up my second paper.

" Of course it would be. For now, I would like to finish all that I need to grade. So, I won't exactly be exciting for a few hours." I told Aro. Aro nodded and stood from his chair.

" Then I will leave you, I have matters to attend to myself anyways. See you soon my love." Aro said, closing his books and kissing me on the top of the head.

" See you soon Aro." I said, stroking his hand, longing desperately not to part with him. But sadly, responsibilities kept our desires in check. The fact became even clearer when in a blink of an eye, Aro had disappeared, leaving no evidence of his presence whatsoever.

The breakfast nook became very empty, the rising sun shedding light on this fact. There was no enthusiasm in the room besides the ancient paintings and furniture, and even they were portraying dreary scenes from classical and monotheistic religions.

I breathed deeply out my nose, how much longer was I going to be able to go a second without Aro? It seemed ridiculous how I felt, that I was growing this clingy. Several hours passed and it was early afternoon when I finally was finished grading assignments. I got out of the breakfast nook as fast as I could to put the file with all the assignments in my bedroom.

Once, I wouldn't have referred to Aro's room as mine, which was how quickly I was planting roots here. I came and left many of the rooms as I pleased. Many would think me rude, which it really was.

When entering my bedroom and placing the file on the nightstand next to my side of the bed, I noticed a small envelope resting on my pillow. I picked it up to look at it, it was addressed to me, written in cursive that people of this century could not replicate.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter carefully, unfolding it. I read it's content, if I thought anything could surprise me, this blew it out of the water.

_So, you are the mate of Aro? Well, if you are reading this, I wish you to be alone. You are about to get in the middle of a feud that has lasted for over one thousand years. Please, get out while you still can. My brother, Stefan, wants your gifts, he wants revenge on Aro for overthrowing him. My brother wishes to reclaim the power he once had, I told him it was unwise, because of the Volturi's extraordinary power. My name is Vladimir of the Romanian Coven, and by the time you read this letter, I will probably be dead, killed at the hands of my brother who specifically ordered me not to alert you about this. _

_ Please, get out of Volterra before Aro can touch you._

Suddenly, glowing particles came out of the envelope to form what I could only describe as a magical movie screen. The screen showed two men fighting, their faces covered with cracks, and their red eyes expressing their fury.

_" I thought I told you not to alert his mate." The darker haired one snarled, taking the lighter haired man by the throat and throwing him across the stone room. I assumed that the darker haired one was Stefan, and the lighter haired one Vladimir. _

_ " You left me with no choice. First rebuilding our fortress, and then planning a war. All of us are going to die this time. How much more do we have to lose before this fact can penetrate your thick skull." Vladimir snarled. Stefan took a torch from the wall and pointed it at his brother._

_ " This is why it's the perfect time. I have nothing to lose." Stefan hissed. With one swift kick, Vladimir's head flew off his body, and his corpse was lit on fire._

I dropped the letter and screamed, curling up on the floor, not because Vladimir was murdered, it was because I could feel it, like it was happening right in front of me. I could feel how death tainted the air, and the soul. I was scared, this was even more terrifying than the Port Angeles incident.

" Elizabeth!" I heard a familiar, childlike voice call. Suddenly, Jane was at my side, and she watched as the magical screen disintegrated into the glowing dust. She stood dumbfounded. Jane picked up the letter and read it.

Marcus, Alec, and Caius rushed into the room. They too saw the glowing dust that was flying around the room.

" It can't be." Caius snarled. " This can only mean one thing."

" What is it Master Caius?" Alec asked.

" Vladimir is dead, and the Romanians will wage war on us again." Marcus muttered.

" Vladimir was an ally?" Jane asked.

" He was never exactly an ally. He kept contact with us because after his brother lost his mate, he started growing darker, more corrupt. In a way, it was like Vladimir lost his brother." Marcus explained.

" Elizabeth! Are you alright? What the hell happened here? I demand to know at once." Aro shrieked as he stormed into the room. It was then he noticed the dust in the air. He froze in his tracks, his angered expression contorting into a worried one. " No. It can't be."

" I'm afraid it's true Master Aro, I am sure you would like to read this. It was addressed to Elizabeth, its writer was Vladimir." Caius said, handing the letter to Aro. Aro read it furiously, his brow furrowing.

" I will end Stefan!" Aro screamed, the letter crumpled in his now clenched fists. " I will make sure he knows pain more than any soul on this earth. I will place his head on a pike and make him watch as I dismember him and burn him piece by piece! I-"

" That's quite enough my dear brother. You are starting to sound like Caius." Marcus said with a laugh, Caius glared at him. " All we can do for now is be prepared and keep our coven safe."

Aro calmed himself. " I suppose you are right Marcus. Jane, Alec. Tell Dimitri and Felix to check the situation on the Romanians, if it is just Stefan, order them to kill him. If Stefan is not alone, have them report back to me." He ordered.

" Yes master." The twins said in unison before leaving the room promptly.

Aro offered me his hand and helped me back on my feet. He held me tightly against him, my face buried in his chest, his hand stroking the back of my head. I felt infinitely safer.

" Are you alright." He asked. I nodded. He turned to the rest of his guard. " Leave us." He ordered, they felt speedily, closing the door behind them.

" I'm so scared." I sobbed. " Would he go after my family?" I asked.

" Stefan is very direct, he does not waste any time on anything besides what he wants, which will be his downfall. He is not a threat." Aro said. He tilted my chin up and kissed me gently. " Eliza, come with me." Aro said, leading me to the bathroom. He unbuttoned my collared button up shirt. " You are rather tense my love." Aro pointed out before sliding my skirt off my hips. My strapless bra was unclipped and fell to the floor. Aro knelt down and with his teeth, tugged my panties down to my ankles. I knelt down to his level, unbuttoning and removing his suit jacket and shirt. I touched him, he read about my desire for him to stand up, and he obeyed. I removed his trousers, and I attempted the same move with his undergarments that he did with mine. My rendition was much less graceful.

I turned the shower on to the hottest setting, beckoning him with my index finger. He followed. He stood behind me, bringing me closer to him so my back was flush with his chest. His arms were around my waist, and as the hot shower soothed me. I laid my head on his shoulder. His hands massaged my shoulders, relieving tension that had long needed to be released.

" Aro?" I asked him.

" What is it my darling?" Aro asked me.

" Could you tell me more about the Romanians?" I asked.

" That is a rather dreary topic I think should be saved for another time. For now." Aro said, trailing off.

" I'm going to hold you to your word. But I guess I have to agree, today has just been rather dreary." I said.

_*~*Aro*~*_

I kissed her neck, coaxing a moan out of her. She rested the front of her body on the marble wall of the shower. I spread her legs apart and entered her from behind. She moaned rather loudly, her eyes squinted so water wouldn't get into them.

I moved with her slowly, my lips still on her neck. The rise and fall of her chest was moving us. I felt sensations that were encouraging me to satisfy myself. I refused to increase my pace though, Elizabeth was in no mood for the animosity in the sex we experienced the night before.

Her quim grew tighter around me, her quim reminded me of a silken vice that was drenched, except it was softer and warmer. I may have been colder than the dead, but that did not mean I hated heat. The warmth of her flesh, that was even warmer now that she was under hot water, was delectable. That was something I would miss when I turned her.

Unlike the mate of the Cullen boy, Elizabeth didn't seem to be in any hurry to become a vampire. But unlike Bella, she had so much to live for, graduating college, a potential career, and her family which I could see she loved as much as she loved me, possibly even more. It made sense this point in time, we have only been with each other for a week, but it still made me envious.

It wasn't just her family that reflected on how strong her love was, but she even came to love my guard quickly, like the brothers and sisters she never had. Something I knew very well that love, no matter what kind, was the most powerful motivator in the world. But love was one of the most dangerous weaknesses, something I was afraid Elizabeth would have to learn the hard way someday.

My mind stopped wondering when Elizabeth started her string of quick, breathless squeaks, she was coming close. My fingers began rubbing her clit, making her whimper and writhe.

" Aro." She spoke quietly. " Please, let me…" Elizabeth trailed off.

Her climax catalyzed mine. This had been nowhere near as good as the sex last night, something about the moment hadn't been really right, but I didn't realize it until now. Elizabeth, she felt horrible for thinking this, but even after climax, she wasn't satisfied. I felt the same way, but I decided not to bring it up.

" Thanks for the massage." Elizabeth said while drying herself off before putting her clothes back on. She walked out of the bathroom and stared out of the window, she watched worriedly at the world outside this room.

Something told me that she did not believe me when I told her than she was in no danger. Nothing was going to stop her from worrying unless that there was evidence that Stefan was killed. Hopefully, Stefan was alone so Dimitri and Felix could kill him so her worries would be over soon. But for now, she was distant from me, it made me feel unwanted, or unneeded, something I haven't felt since I was human, I was reminded of how painful it was.

" Would you like to be left alone?" I asked. She shook her head.

" No." She murmured, still looking out the window and not at me. " I'm sorry I'm sort of like this. The bad parts of today outweigh the good parts. If you get bored of me, I'm fine with you leaving." Elizabeth added.

" I am sure Marcus and Caius wish to speak with me. Are you sure-"

" Yes." Elizabeth spoke quickly before I could finish. My eyes widened, this was a good time to leave the room. Her attitude at the moment was twisted and warped by fear. It was a common thing in humans, but I had a bad feeling that I wouldn't be able to tolerate a lot of this distant, smart attitude from Elizabeth.


	14. I'll Shut It When I Get What I Want

_Author's Note: This sort of filler chapter, I'm trying to expose a selfish, bratty side of Elizabeth. You will most likely team up with Aro in this argument (I know I did.) Also, Caius isn't just there to be the douche bag, he make a few legitimate points :D_

_ *~*Elizabeth*~*_

It was a week since I arrived, and already I missed Washington. Maybe, it was possible that this great love with Aro was no more than lust. All that I knew is that our relationship wasn't whole. It made me wonder if Aro knew how to express love in any other ways than sex. It made me wonder if I knew how to express love at all.

With each passing minute, I found myself wondering if Aro had lied to me that I would be safe. If Stefan was planning an uprising, he would have an army of many willing vampires who wished to overthrow the Volturi. It was simple as that. It was oppressive that Aro could lie to me all he wanted, but I could never lie to him. Even saying that I was fine when I wasn't didn't go unnoticed.

I sat in the gardens, the sun was shining. Aro had sent Arianna, begging me to speak with him. I refused. I had too much to think about. With Stefan as a new threat, I wondered if he would go after my family. I assumed that if I brought it up with Aro, he would just dismiss it, like he did anything concerning the matter.

" Please, Elizabeth, he's scaring me, come speak with him now." Arianna begged. I turned to look at her sharply.

" Has he threatened you?" I asked. Arianna shook her head. " You're lying to me." Arianna started sobbing into her hands, I didn't sympathize with her, I might have if she told me the truth. It seemed like everyone was lying to me and I was not going to pity them.

" I'm sorry." She whimpered. I snarled, standing up from the marble bench in the gardens and strode back to the manor, leaving Arianna crying in the gardens, not even regretting it.

I threw the double doors open, storming down the corridors, looking for Aro. Eventually, he appeared right in front of me. His face was stern. Obviously, he was none too happy with me.

" Elizabeth, we have much to talk about." Aro spoke, his tone very, very dark.

" Apparently, it must be important enough to threaten the life of a poor girl." I spat. He did not take too kindly to my attitude.

" She is disposable." Aro said.

" It doesn't mean you have to torture her."

" I will do as I wish with those who serve me. It would do you well to remember that."

" So that's all I am? Another servant, disposable perhaps?" I asked.

" Silence!" Aro bellowed. I jumped, never hearing any voice louder. " You speak like a child, and for the past two days you have acted like one. I know what is best for you Elizabeth. Obedience will guarantee your happiness."

" You know what's best for me? Get with the times Aro, we are not in the medieval world. I have a say in what is best for me, and solely listening to you is certainly not what's best for me. Maybe I act like a child, but you must be some kind of crazed dictator."

" Dictator? Ha! That's very funny." Aro spoke very quietly, he paced around before looking back at me, right into my very soul. " I've allowed you to pursue your education when I could have just swept you off your feet and you would have never seen your family again! I welcomed you into my home for no charge! I have allowed you your career, and working to obtain it! I have opened up my heart for you! I have given you my body and soul!

" You have given your body to many others before!" I interrupted him.

" Hold your tongue." Aro hissed, silencing me. " I have given you so much. But here you are, treating me like I am the devil? I am only trying to protect you Elizabeth!"

" So you admit it. I am in danger." I spoke, making sure that my tone stung him.

" Stefan is building an army as we speak, he already has many followers." Aro admitted, looking none too happy he did. I snorted, rolling my eyes.

" Were you going to tell me that? Or is your ego so big you didn't want to be wrong?" I asked, my tone very, very bitchy.

" I have told you already. Be satisfied and don't just assume what I might, or might not have done." Aro snarled.

" I'll assume what I want." I snarled at him. He grabbed my wrist roughly, yanking me closer to him.

" Do not try me my love. You do not want to see me angered." Aro warned me.

" This isn't angry?" I asked.

" Harsh concern." He spoke, each syllable articulated. He let go of my wrist. " We will continue this, but I have more important things to do than quarrel with a rude, stubborn woman." Aro snarled before storming away from me.

_*~*Aro*~*_

" That bloody, goddamned woman! How dare she!" I screamed, Marcus and Caius were my audience. " I give her so much and get this in return? This had better end or else I might just 'accidently' drain her dry!"

" That's what you get when you have someone who does not know their proper place. I suggest restricting her freedoms, she has far too many in my opinion. Freedom makes humans ungrateful." Caius advised me.

" Caius, you speak too harshly. She is probably wondering what she has done right this moment. Elizabeth is afraid for her life, something that can bring the worst out of anyone. Aro, this isn't going to end until she has nothing to fear, so eradicate some of her fear. I don't have to read minds to know that she fears for the safety of her family." Marcus spoke, countering Caius's rather harsh advice.

" Oh yes, lavish a woman who can't hold her tongue, very clever idea Marcus. She is overindulged already. If she were my mate, she wouldn't be getting anything from me until she learned her place." Caius snarled at Marcus.

" She did not grow up in a time that women submit to their men Caius, your methods would only anger her further." Marcus said. I sighed, this would be another one of their verbal battles.

" My do I miss those times. Now women are brazen and outspoken. Where did the beauty in virtue ever go? Aro, your mate is extremely brazen, willing to spread her legs for you so quickly."

" Silence Caius. I will not have you speaking of my mate when it comes to that subject." I snapped at him. " You don't hear me speaking of your wife like that."

" Exactly my point, Aro. My wife isn't a pampered, ungrateful, discourteous whore!" Caius spoke, raising his voice at me.

To my dismay, Caius had a point there, except calling her a whore. Caius was very extreme, and this was one of the few times that his extreme attitude swayed me in my decision. Marcus looked fearful, probably the idea of choosing Caius' decision in this situation.

" Aro. She will only hate you more. She is only afraid, forgive her." Marcus begged of me.

" You just can't handle that I'm right, can't you Marcus?" Caius asked.

" Will you two just shut it!" I snarled at the two of them. They stopped immediately. " I will send a few of our guard to protect her family. If that doesn't improve anything, then she will definitely wish she perked right up." I proclaimed. Before my brothers could say anything, I ran out of the room, I wasn't in the mood for them to argue over my affairs.

I ran to my chambers where I heard Elizabeth talking to someone. She was on the balcony, her cell phone in her hand. She was laughing, her mood had improved since I last talked to her.

" I'm having a wonderful time in Italy. Grading papers is a pain, but teachers are less lazy here than in America." Elizabeth said. I could hear a woman's voice on the other line laugh.

" Have you been anywhere else besides Volterra?" The woman asked Elizabeth.

" No, I haven't even been around Volterra very much. Probably after the school year is over is when I would do my major touring." Elizabeth said.

" So, I'm curious. Have any of those stupid Italian men tried wooing you yet?" The other woman asked.

" Actually, yes." Elizabeth said.

" Give me the details." The woman on the other line demanded.

" I'm dating one of the Volturi." Elizabeth told her. I stopped dead, but then I remembered that one of our many cover ups is that we were 'related' to the Volturi leaders of the past, much like the royal family in England.

" You're joking!" The woman spoke dumbfounded.

" Not even kidding you mom. I know it's quick, but he insisted I moved in." Elizabeth said.

" Oh my god! Not even out of college and you are living with Prince Charming and in the fairytale castle." Her mother said. " Don't you dare drop out of college though. I will personally come down there and whoop your ass."

" Don't worry, I let him know he comes second to my career and education." Elizabeth said. That wasn't very nice!

" That's my girl."

" Hey mom, I'm on a card and minutes are super expensive. I'll call you in two weeks." Elizabeth said.

" Alright, facebook me. Love you Lizzy."

" Love you too mom, bye." Elizabeth said, hanging up the phone and put it in her pocket. She turned around, shocked to see me there.

" Sorry, I startled you. I'll make this quick." She stood transfixed, looking at me quizzically. " Because of this new threat, I'm sending guards to protect your family." I told Elizabeth, who's hard, angered expression softened. She ran over and threw her arms around me.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

He actually cared. Even if it was an attempt for me to forgive him, how could I not? How could I simply dismiss this? There were some things that if happened, would get my knickers out of a twist, and that thing was taking some action because of this new danger.

The whole time I was talking to my mother on the phone, I felt a knot twist in my stomach, expecting to hear her scream and hear the sound of spraying blood or tearing flesh. It was like watching a horror movie, except this actually was scary, this was real, or as real as fear could make it for me.

" Thank you!" I cried out, my words muffled by his chest. " You have no idea how much this means to me. I'm so sorry, you didn't deserve that earlier." I sobbed.

" I forget that humans react to fear differently. It has been many centuries since I feared anything." Aro told me, putting my hair behind my ears. " Also over those centuries, I have had to be the one to put fear in the hearts and minds of my kind and many others. Generally, when I see fear in others, it is only just another way of groveling at my feet for something they don't deserve."

" I don't deserve anything from you, especially your forgiveness." I said. This was a particularly awkward moment because from sobbing, as usual, tears from my nose almost touched my lips. I was trying to find some way I could wipe them on my sleeve or something.

Aro pulled a white cloth from his pocket and gave it to me. I was rather embarrassed at the fact he was seeing me with tears and snot running down my nose. I wiped my nose and wadded up the cloth, feeling awkward and disgusting.

" Sorry, that was totally gross." I said.

" Humans can't look perfect all the time." Aro said with a chuckle.

" Wrong. Audrey Hepburn is perfect in every sense of the word." I said. Aro seemed to accept my counterexample.

" She was lovely. Back when movies still worth going to watch." Aro said.

" When was the last time you saw a movie?" I asked him.

" I think it was the sixth Harry Potter movie. It disappointed me, barley followed the book." Aro said.

" You read Harry Potter?" I asked him, not being able to believe it. He read Harry Potter, a three thousand year old vampire who read, and apparently enjoyed Harry Potter.

" Of course. Never before has a literary work been celebrated throughout the globe. After hearing about its success, I had to read them."

" I have loved Harry Potter since I was seven." I said, gesturing to my bookcase, where all seven books along with some others rested. " It was my childhood novel. They're splitting Deathly Hallows into two parts. I'm really happy about that so they get a lot more detail. I'm definitely going to cry in those, part two at the very least."

" Witches exist." Aro said. My jaw dropped to the floor.

" No way!" I shouted excitedly.

" Yes. We have an alliance with them. With witch burnings, they were almost to the point of extinction, but I made sure to get the remaining ones in Europe to safety. They are a powerful ally." Aro explained.

" So, what are witches really like?" I asked, curious to learn more about witches."

" They look like regular people, except they age slowly once they get to their twenties. They don't ride on brooms or carpets, nor do they have wands. It takes thousands of years for them to control their magic, which during the times of witch burning, they were doomed if their magic got out of control in public. They live in an archipelago which thanks to their magic, can't be seen with a human eye."

" That is incredible. So do all of these myth and legend type things exist?" I asked.

" Oh yes. From sprites to manticores, all of them exist. The most dangerous out of all of them are sea dragons. There are only two in the world. One is located where the Bermuda Triangle is, and the other at the Dragon's Triangle."

" So they don't call it the Dragon's Triangle for no reason."

Aro told me much more about the sea dragons of the world's oceans. It made me smile to think that all of these things I believed to be fantasy were real. For the rest of the evening, Aro talked about how trolls would probably side with the Romanians, and so would sprites and merpeople. I learned that our allies consisted of witches, giants, the Cerberus pack in Greece, and dragon riders. Aro apparently was making a valiant effort to get the loyalty of the sea dragons, for not only could they control their triangles, but the entire world's oceans as well.

It astounded me that vampires weren't the strongest or fastest thing out there after witnessing how strong and fast they are compared to humans. It surprised me that humans haven't gone extinct yet, or farmed to make human bacon or something like that. What about our species allowed us to be so populous?

_Author's Note: Yeah, weird mythological creature tangent, this chapter was a little depressing, so I wanted to add something cool. But yeah, I hope Elizabeth seems like a selfish bitch at the moment, because she really only forgives Aro after she gets what she wants. I'm trying so hard to make a character with flaws (real flaws, not I trip and my love catches me all the time.) I don't understand why authors are so afraid to make a flawed character? I'm trying to drag Elizabeth into a complete pool of flaws where the only redeeming qualities would be happy when she has what she wants, can play a bass, and her love for her family and friends. In my head, she's not overly beautiful, she's selfish when it comes to most things and people, she grumbles about her job and how it isn't the complete dream job, and anything else I can't name off the top of my head. Elizabeth is only human, she can't act noble, beautiful, intelligent, hardworking, strong, or a sympathy magnet. But I have to remember and stop myself from calling many other characters things like Mary Sues, because Mary Sue's are just a reflection of what society is wanting us to be, and we all want to be perfect. I am probably closer to a Mary Sue than what my character will hopefully be during her development in this story. That was a long rant. Reviews are wonderful, whether it be a flame, critique, or proclamation of love for the chapter. _


	15. Back to Washington Part I

_ Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I had some writer's block. These next few chapters will be in Washington, so things are really going to start happening. Parents meet Aro, wolf pack finds out Elizabeth is involved with Aro, and all the other wonderful drama which will occur in Washington._

_ *~*Elizabeth*~*_

I was happier than I had been in months. I had graduated and got a teaching job in Italy. I somehow got Aro to allow me to stay in Washington for a few weeks to catch up with family and friends. Aro would be staying with me as well.

Knowing Aro, he probably wouldn't be a big fan of staying in the small motel just outside of Forks or bunking with my parents (my dad would dislike that even more than Aro), so I allowed him to choose the place, I didn't mind either way.

I had things arranged with my parents when it came to meeting Aro. My parents and I would have dinner in Seattle, and Aro would meet us at Benaroya Hall for a Seattle Symphony Concert.

Aro and I just walked off our plane and entered the interior of SeaTac. It felt so good to be back in Washington, the clouds, the rain, and most of all, that crisp Washington air you couldn't find anywhere else in the world.

The two of us walked arm in arm, we got curious glances from many of the waiting passengers, it reminded me that two people having a conversation in another language in America was a spectacle, something that made people curious.

" So, are you actually going to tell me where we are staying?" I asked Aro.

" Of course not, it would ruin the surprise." Aro replied with a smug smirk.

" You know, something that would surprise me would be you giving me a straight up answer." I said jokingly.

" Someday I will shock you with that my dear. But for now, you still remain surprised when I plan you to be, so there is no need." Aro told me.

" You ate before you left Volterra right?" I asked, just making sure.

" Of course I did, Carlisle wouldn't appreciate me killing humans on his hunting grounds, even though he doesn't eat humans."

" Wait, Carlisle, as in Carlisle Cullen?" I asked.

" Of course. I never told you that, now I remember. Carlisle is a vampire, along with the rest of the Cullens, they do not feed on humans but animals, there very few covens of vampires in the world who live that lifestyle though." Aro explained.

" So that means I went to high school with vampires. I went shopping with two of them. Wow, I wouldn't have guessed. Their eyes are different than yours." I told Aro. I now noticed he put in his blue contacts. It really would have freaked my parents out if they saw Aro had red eyes. It really would just freak the human population out.

" Result of them not drinking human blood." Aro said.

" Yeah. I was wondering if you ate because I'm sure you've noticed already, but I got my period today and I don't wish to become dinner." I told Aro. He laughed, leaning over to kiss me on the top of the head.

" Do not worry Eliza, as delicious as you smell, I have quenched my thirst." Aro told me. I didn't know whether to take my apparent deliciousness as a compliment, or take it as something I should fear.

We were just walking out of the airport when an elegant black car pulled up in front of us. It had an elongated front with white wall tires. It looked brand new and unused it was taken care of so well, but I knew full well that this car had to be my grandparents age or older.

" I figured you'd like it." Aro spoke. " It's a 1934 Duesenberg. Made in the time when the automobile industry didn't only create cars, but works of art. Once it got to the mid seventies though, cars like many other things became mass produced and plain."

" You sound like my grandfather when he talks about anything with a motor. If you started talking to my grandfather about cars, he could talk for days. There was one Christmas that I started talking about cars. He spent six hours on that tangent and could have gone longer. He spent two hours straight bashing modern technology." I told Aro.

" I will have to meet your grandfather, no one in the Volturi shares my love for cars. Cars are the most beautiful thing the engineer has made so far, and probably ever with this new minimalist fashion." Aro said. It was interesting watching him completely fanboy over cars. A three thousand year old vampire loving cars just proves even further that boys love their toys.

" I've never been infatuated with cars, I'm just happy if a car runs right and isn't ugly. But this car, this car right here is the most beautiful I've ever seen." I said.

Aro opened the door for me and I went in the car. The interior was as beautiful as the exterior. The dark red leather seats had a certain lustful quality to them. The seatbelts, I didn't want to say I didn't enjoy them but they were interesting. Mine hugged my chest tightly enough I felt like I was in some bondage porn flick. Lustful leather seats and bondage seatbelts, this car was like a porno-mobile.

Aro sat besides me in the driver's seat and put my head on his shoulder. The hand that was free from steering was on my thigh. When seeing what I had thought, his head turned slightly, his eyebrow raised further up his forehead, and his lips curved into a devilish smirk. The hand that rested on top of my thigh slowly moved to my inner thigh, making me squirm and giggle from knowing the dirty things he was picturing in his mind.

" Something wrong my dear?" He asked. His hand traveled further up my thigh, making sure to caress wherever his fingers touched, he knew full well that made me squirm.

Aro, to put it very bluntly, was a very horny vampire at the moment. We haven't had sex for a few months because of our occupations and also we only really just made up. If we hadn't made up from the fight months previous, he probably wouldn't have come with me.

But, as horny as I was, I was evil and loved to see him beg. The things he would do to get me in bed were fantastic, fantastic enough that it made me feel bad when I told him no. I loved him pursuing me, it made me feel sexy and wanted.

We pulled up to a hotel I recognized, the Fairmont Olympic, which was probably the nicest hotel in Seattle. I was shocked, I knew that Aro would get something nice, but never did I expect the Fairmont Olympic. Aro was right that he wouldn't cease to surprise me.

" Fairmont? We're staying in the Fairmont!" I exclaimed.

" Yes my darling. I think you need to tell me something." Aro said. It didn't take telepathy to know what he wanted to hear.

" Alright! You were right, I was wrong." I groaned sarcastically.

" I love hearing that, from you especially." Aro spoke giddily. I rolled my eyes.

Aro found a place to park. A couple bellhops walked to our car. One of them opened my door, helping me out. While I could have done it just fine myself, it was wonderful to feel that politeness directed at me because I was a woman. What many women didn't know is that a world without sexism would only come when they didn't expect people to do things for them just because they had tits.

We got ourselves checked in and took the elaborate staircase up to our room, the bellhops following us with our luggage. I was dumbstruck when I saw it. It reminded me of the décor in the Volturi mansion, just more vibrant and didn't have that aged, but well kept look, everything looked brand new.

Aro and I got settled before I started getting ready for dinner with my parents. It was seven in the evening by the time I was ready. My hair was done, I was made up, and I had on a dark blue dress that went below my knee, and a black ribbon tied around my waist.

" You look lovely darling." Aro said. He too was dressed nicely, even though he didn't need to be at the moment.

" Thank you. I should get going, I'm already late." I said as I put my black woolen overcoat. I was about to walk out the door when Aro gently grabbed my hand.

" I can't let you out there alone, Stefan could know of our whereabouts." Aro said quietly.

" I can't have you coming to dinner and not eat, my parents would ask questions." I told Aro.

" I'll make some sort of excuse. As much as I hate to loom over you, it's too dangerous, especially after Stefan has had a few months to build his army. This trip is too dangerous itself, but it was a risk I was willing to take." Aro explained. I nodded and he fluidly exited our room.

While driving to the restaurant, Aro seemed extra vigilant, now that it was completely nightfall. Seattle at night was a creepy place, even without Stefan potentially waiting to attack us. I remembered one time when I was fifteen, we were on a nighttime field trip and they let us loose in Seattle to find a place to eat, sure enough, my friends and I ran into creepers, they didn't do anything terrible, they just said random, cryptic things to us.

We arrived to my mom's favorite Seattle restaurant, Serious Pie, it was owned by some famous chef that I forgot the name of. It was a gourmet pizza place. I was sure after having Italian pizza, this wouldn't taste anything special anymore.

I saw my mom and dad standing outside, both of them dressed nicely, and the first time in years my dad had shaved. Aro helped me out of the car and I ran to my parents, hugging both of them simultaneously.

" I've missed you guys so much." I said. I almost spoke in Italian, but then I remembered that I would have to start speaking some English after a few months.

" I've missed you too. I'm also damn proud of you too." My dad said, rustling my hair like he did since I was nine and had a short, tomboyish haircut.

" I agree with your father. I am in his words, damn proud." My mom said as she fixed my hair back up. " Ah, so this must be the man you've been telling me all about." My mom said.

" Yeah, I didn't think you would be able to make it to dinner." My dad said, his tone expressed his anger for Aro showing up not just too early, but at all. Dads would be dad though.

" Well, my business back in Italy was taken care of earlier than I thought, so luckily, Benaroya Hall will not be the only place we will meet tonight." Aro said. He took my mom's hand and kissed it. " My name is Aro." He said introducing himself.

I told my mom to prepare for the old world mannerisms, but she was still as shocked and flattered by them. Her cheeks were red as her wild curls. My dad in the background snorted and rolled his eyes. Aro turned sharply to my father and offered his hand. With reluctance, my father finally shook his hand. I smiled when I saw my dad's face soften up a little bit, maybe there was hope dad would like Aro after all.

We were seated and ordered our food. Mom ordered us a bottle of red wine, it was very good, I didn't drink that much, but this wine was something that if my parents weren't here, I might have overindulged. Aro made his excuse of why he wasn't eating, telling my parents that he ate early since he was expecting to be doing business over the phone while I was gone. My dad did the background check on Aro, who he was, his career, where exactly he lived, all those kinds of questions. My dad, while he didn't look like he was going to cheer, seemed a little bit more comfortable around Aro.

" I like your car." Was my dad's finishing statement of the background check. " thirties Duesenberg if I'm not correct."

" Thank you Mr. Ward. You are correct, it's a thirty four." Aro replied. My dad nodded slowly.

While Aro and dad got into a conversation about antique cars, my mom and I were on our own conversation.

" So, has he taken you anywhere else in Italy?" Mom asked.

" Once we get back, we're going to Florence, and I believe Venice afterwards." I replied.

" Oh Florence, I love Florence. I went there years ago and I loved it so much. You will love Florence, I know how much you love Renaissance history." My mom said, speaking about Florence as if it was heaven.

" Indeed." I said, taking a sip of wine.

" So, it seems your dad likes him, or at least his taste in cars." My mom said.

" Yes, Aro does like cars, he just likes anything that is older than fifty years." I told mom. " He is quite the scholar, I swear you could ask him a question and he'd know the answer. He knows like, seven languages I think." I said, Aro knew many more languages than that, but I needed to throw out a realistic, but shocking number. My mom's eyes widened, she took peculiar interest in that because she was a linguist.

" Tell me more." My mom said.

" He's a cellist, I still have yet to convince him to play for me." I said. " He also likes science, conducting experiments is a hobby of his. Oh! He's an incredible artists, you name it, painting, sculpting. I could go on, he really is quite the Renaissance man."

" Yeah, no kidding. I have noticed the way he carries himself and the way he talks. Very graceful, very fluid movements and gestures, sits perfectly straight. I know he has an accent, but you'd think he came from a time when speech was more refined."

" You also have to remember he comes from a family of considerable wealth, and had him privately tutored by a genius." I reminded mom. " But you're right though, his vocabulary makes mine sound like I was white trash."

" I know this isn't a typical mom question, but when have I been a typical mom?" That was true, now that I was an adult my mom and I would gossip like old women and when we were out and about or at home having fun, she went into friend mode, but mom always knew when she had to become mom again.

" Is he good-" My mom stopped. My dad swung his head around to give mom a cold hard stare, he was not going to hear of this. My mom sighed, which gave my dad the signal that he wouldn't hear the answer to that raunchy question.

" Is he good in bed?" My mom mouthed. While mom and I were generally like friends now, but this was an awkward question. It ruffled me, my eyes went wide and I shifted in my seat. But it was a question I had to answer. I nodded. " I won't go more into it." My mom mouthed.

" Thanks." I mouthed back, very happy that we could leave that subject behind.

After dinner and the Seattle Symphony concert, dad had warmed up to Aro, he went from man-dating-my-daughter-must-exterminate mode to a much more relaxed, friendly approach to Aro.

On the car ride home, I fell asleep in my seat, I was tired, and I would have to wake up early to drive down to Olympia and Forks. When we got back to the hotel, I was still awake enough to know that Aro carried me up to our room and laid me down on the bed, kissing my forehead. I could now say that knowing Aro carrying me while I was asleep was among my favorite things.

_I hope that when Aro was talking to Elizabeth about how Stefan could be watching and that it could be dangerous that it wasn't too Edwardish, review your opinion on that tid bit. _


	16. Back to Washington Part II

_ Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated._

" I just realized how much you are going to stand out in Forks." I told Aro. We were driving to Forks, I was wearing the same shit I wore in high school, and Aro, with his shiny black car and elegant attire. This I had to admit would be one of the more awkward days in my life. I looked down at my hands, which were fiddling around long, but flat gift box.

I knew this from experience, the first day I saw a Cullen my jaw dropped, the looked more like upper class Seattle folk than anything that would touch Forks except for maybe a wedding or prom, and even those events had nothing on Alice or Rosalie some of the time.

" Oh believe me, I have been here before, though I did not make myself public, I have to agree that I will definitely stand out." Aro said. " As you humans like to put it, like a sore thumb."

I chuckled at the statement. Right now was one of those moments that were so close to being perfect. Here I had Aro in a nice warm car, while outside, the rain poured and the overcast gave an aura of gloom that made me happy, it reminded me of home. Also the fact I was off to see Quil and Embry, who I haven't seen since last Christmas. Aro was definitely going to see an immature side of me today, well, he would be seeing it first hand.

" You're going to get that suit soaked. Are you sure you don't want to get a raincoat?" I asked in a very straight forward manner. Aro sighed in playful annoyance. I kept on telling Aro in Italy to get some attire that was more appropriate for Washington. Aro kept on refusing. Appearances were important to Aro, the way someone looked and presented themselves was generally something that would hold his attention.

" I would look like a fool." Aro told me.

" You would not look like a fool. You'll probably make less of a scene if I swing by my dad's house and see if you can borrow one of his coats." I said, speaking my mind. This was slightly annoying me.

" And why would I want to make less of a scene?" Aro replied, it wasn't just to be a sassy twit, but a legitimate response. I then remembered that I was the only one who gave a fuck what people thought about us. Aro saw the slight cowering of my shoulders. " Are you embarrassed of me?"

" No, no, not at all! It's not you really, it's me. I'm just nervous that people aren't going to react to this relationship positively." I admitted. Aro looked at my quizzically.

" What does this have to do with a coat?" Aro asked. He looked back at the road, a deer stood in the middle of it and Aro stopped. His mood obviously had gotten a little sourer. " Also, why wouldn't people react to this positively?" Aro asked, his tone getting bitter.

" How do you not know? I mean look at the persona you sell to humans? All they really know about you is that you're wealthy and powerful. Then you have someone like me, who doesn't come from a family with those. People are going to just assume that I just want a slice of that." I told Aro.

" Elizabeth, you care too much." Aro pointed out like one would to when starting some sort of intervention. " Does it really matter what they think of you? Also, if they think of you that way, are they really worth your time?"

" Well, I've grown up with them. I'm not saying that Quil and Embry-"

" Hold on, the Quileutes?" Aro asked, interrupting me. I nodded.

" Yeah of course. We're going to La Push beach. Is there a problem with that?" I asked. Aro tensed up a little bit, looking at me through his peripheral vision.

" Actually, there is quite a lot." Aro answered, pursing his lips. He looked nervous, Aro never looked nervous.

" What's wrong with the Quileutes?" I asked.

" I think this is better explained from their perspective. In simple terms, they are against vampires." Aro said.

" What are they?" I asked.

" Shape shifters, they turn into the form of a wolf. That is all I know, I haven't discovered their existence until two years ago. I am curious to find out more about their behavior."

" If you're worried about my safety, they won't hurt me." I assured Aro.

" When it comes to your safety around them, I have no concern whatsoever. They are like guardians for humans, or at least those in their territory." Aro took my hand in his, looking in my eyes. I knew that Aro wouldn't crash, but it always made me nervous whenever he looked away from the road. " You will have to tell them about us."

" Would they kill you if they saw you?"

" Most likely. Two years ago, the Volturi got a false report about an immortal child the Cullens made. It is very clear in our laws that the child and its creator would face execution. So the Cullens formed a group of 'witnesses,' more like potential army, which included those wolves. It turned out that the child was born, so no lives were lost, but I fear I lost a friend." Aro paused. " Carlisle stayed with us in the seventeen hundreds, he left after a couple decades to go to America, and become a doctor."

" I'm sorry." I spoke, not really knowing what to say. " I'm sure he'll get over it. Carlisle is very kind, and since it was all a mistake…" I trailed off. " Oh! We're here!" I spoke giddily when I saw La Push beach. I realized how horrible that must have sounded, giving Aro some sympathy and then being all happy five seconds later.

The car came to a slow stop. Within a blink of an eye, Aro was at my side, opening the door and offering me his hand like a gentleman. I would never call him out on being a gentleman, even when it seemed a little overbearing, mostly because most of Aro's lifetime, chivalry was just a second nature commonplace for a man. Also something told me that even if I dared try, I would fail in changing him.

I saw all of the Quileute tribe at the beach, the grill was on and the wonderful smell of meat was in the air. Not only was it the day of my arrival, but it was Quil's twentieth birthday. Today was going to be fantastic, well, as long as Aro and the Quileutes didn't tear each other limb from limb.

The all smiled at me, but there was silence when they saw Aro. I cleared my throat and started walking towards them, Aro following me, his arm linked with mine. I tried to breathe regularly, but the glances and glares made my stomach lurch.

" I know." I spoke, my voice surprisingly was very clear, but it was quiet. This brought an even more curious reaction from people. The group of young men, which included Quil and Embry, looked at Sam, as if they were asking him something, waiting for an order. Sam nodded, I wondered if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

The men calmed down, smiles returning to their face. I sighed loudly in relief, my muscles loosened up. I ran down to Quil and threw my arms around him, I missed him a lot, I had good friends in college, but they just weren't Quil and Embry, none of my friends were as special as them.

" Happy birthday!" I spoke joyously. He let me go and I gave him the small wrapped box. He had a wide smile and tossed the box around, catching it every time. " Don't toss it around, it's electronic!" I warned Quil.

" So, you're dating the Italian vampire mob boss?" Quil asked, laughing to himself. I could just sense that Aro sneered at this title, and I could feel his red eyes right on us, Aro was annoyed with Quil already. " Hot." Quil added. I laughed, knowing that this would stir curious reactions from everyone. " Hey! Do you ever use blood as your spaghetti sauce?" Quil hollered at Aro.

" Quil, this isn't funny!" Sam scolded him. Quil made a face at Sam.

" Oh boohoo. Hey, do you ever hang one of your bro's on the ceiling naked when the sun is out, and use the sparkles as a disco ball?"

" Wait? Wait? Hold on? You sparkle?" I asked. I howled in laugher, falling to the ground, picturing Aro glittering in the sunlight. The Quileutes joined my laughter, probably just laughing at my reaction that my boyfriend was part vampire part disco ball.

" It is only the Cullens who sparkle you twit!" Aro shouted at Quil. " I catch fire in the sunlight like a respectable vampire, not glitter like a fairy princess!"

" Oh my god! Sparkles!" I wheezed before returning to my laughing, which was starting to sound like a maniacal cackle, Aro's laughter was really starting to rub off on me. " I'm sorry, but that is just too funny! I'm just picturing them all sparkling, and it is the funniest thing in the history of man! Quil, Quil! Jasper, you know the guy with the constipated look on his face, just imagine that sparkling-" I couldn't finish my sentence I was laughing too hard.

The Quileutes and I finally calmed down from our laughter session. I saw that Aro wasn't pleased in the slightest. I stood up and put my arms around his waist and hugged him.

" You know he can't stay on our land." I heard Sam say in the background. I looked up at Aro apologetically.

" I am quite aware of that Sam, thank you for reminding me." I snapped. " Should we leave?" I whispered to Aro. He shook his head.

" I will leave, Caius has been trying to get a hold of me all morning, I'd better go see what the fuss is about. I'll leave you the car." Aro said. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. " Don't have too much fun." Aro whispered playfully before he disappeared right in front of my eyes. That damned vampire super speed would never cease to shock me.

" Alright, Elizabeth, you're coming with me. There are some things we need to talk about, one of them being how you are going to get away from Aro." Sam ordered. I kept still and glared at him.

" Sam, let's save this for another day. I mean, it's my birthday, let's actually have some fun." Quil told Sam. Sam gave up and allowed Quil to have his way. " So hey Liz? How's it in Italy? Got bitten yet?" Quil asked jokingly.

" Nope, I have not been snacked upon."

" Alright, so I don't have to kill vampire mob boss. The waves suck today, so I was thinking about some cliff diving."

" I am not jumping off a fucking cliff." I established quickly.

" Oh come on, why not? The Elizabeth I know would have done it."

" Which Elizabeth do you know? I can barley stand up on a surfboard."

" Come on, you climbed to the top of a tree last summer to hang Quil's shorts on a branch, don't you bullshit us with this not diving off a cliff." Embry said.

" Or does Mr. vampire mafia think it's not safe." Quil said. That's when I caved into peer pressure, I was not going to let them think that I was playing it safe because of Aro.

" Alright, I'll jump, but if I die my ghost will haunt your sorry asses." I said, Quil and Embry high fived each other, but then Quil handed some money to Embry.

" See Quil, I told you that she would cave in when we mentioned her bloodsucking boyfriend." Embry said smugly, shoving the money proudly in his short's pocket.

" Shut up Embry!" Quil snapped, he then smelled the air, it smelled like perfectly grilled meat. " I'm going to get food." Quil said. We soon joined the horde of people at the grill. I couldn't choose between steak and fish, so I chose both. It had been a long while since I had a nice slab of charcoal grilled meat, I found my reunion with such wonderful meat a pleasant one.

" So once we're done eating, we'll go cliff diving. We've only got a couple of hours until the sun goes down anyways." Quil said with his mouth full.

" Alright, that's cool, I got my wetsuit on underneath this… Oh shit."

" What?" Embry asked.

" I forgot underwear." I said, mentally hitting myself.

" Oh my god, you're such a whore." Embry said jestingly. I hit him on the side of his arm.

" Not as much as Quil is." I said. Quil glared at Embry and I as we laughed.

" Enough of that, that was like, five years ago or something like that." Quil snapped.

" We established that you would never live that down Quil. Speaking of witnessing Quil's little porn scandal, where is Jacob?" I asked.

" Jacob kinda sorta moved out. We thought he would be here, but he's probably hanging out with the Cullens." Embry answered.

" I thought he hated the Cullens more than anything in the world."

" He spends most of his time there now that Bella had a kid."

" How old is her kid, four?"

" Technically, but since the Cullens are vampires and Bella was a human when she gave birth, so the aging process is quicker for some reason, which is really weird, since vampires don't age, why would the aging process be quicker?" Quil said.

" That's really weird, not the aging process thing, but the fact Jake is chilling with the Cullens now that Bella had a kid. You'd think that either he's still obsessed with Bella, or he's in love with a four year old."

Quil and Embry looked at each other. I gasped, this could not have been true.

" Oh my god! What the fuck? Why would Jacob hit on a four year old?"

" Well, as I said before, she doesn't look or act like she's four, she's fourteenish right now."

" Still! And Bella is okay with this?"

" Yup."

" What the fuck?"

That was pretty much my response to everything as we talked about Jacob and Bella's demon spawn. I found it absolutely revolting.

" Hey, vampire mob boss is like a million years old, you shouldn't be talking." Embry said.

" Well at least I was an adult when he started hitting on me!"

" She's got a point Embry." Quil said.

Yeah, seriously, I did have a point.


	17. Betrayal, Venom, and Confessions

_Author's Note: This is when the war will begin to emerge._

Cliff diving was one of the scariest things ever. I was completely surprised I didn't die or lose a limb. But at the end, it was actually fun jumping off cliffs, which is something that would concern most people. I wondered what Aro's reaction would be when he learned I jumped off a cliff.

We walked back to the beach to see a long forgotten enemy of mine. Michelle Johnson. She stood there flirting with Seth when she discovered that I was here.

" Michelle? What are you doing here?" I asked, I tried to sound normal since our battles fought in high school would be petty to bring up again.

" None of your business Elizabitch." Michelle snapped in reply. I told myself to keep calm and act mature. Michelle obviously didn't mature after high school.

" Okay, okay, none of my business." I said, backing down a little bit. " How's life?" I asked.

" Certainly better than yours, I haven't gained twenty pounds after high school."

Yeah, it was kinda true, most of that weight came from Italy. I was remaining calm, just because she commented on my chubbier figure didn't mean that I had to freakout. I was an adult, not a teenage girl.

" Well, my body might not be at its prime, but otherwise, life is going quite well for me. How did you stay fit after high school?"

" Please, your body never had a prime, you have no tits and a giant ass. I've been going on a liquid diet, and that does not mean liquefied carbs that you must be drinking."

" The only reason you came is to torture me?" I asked. " Isn't it?" My temper was beginning to rise, but I forced myself to cool down, Michelle wasn't going to get the best of me.

" I was bored and I heard you were back, so I decided to have some fun."

" Do you even have a life? I mean, don't you have friends, a boyfriend, maybe you need to look for a job?"

" I have a job."

" What is it?" I asked. " If you don't mind me asking."

" I can't say!" She shrieked, it took me aback, I never saw her this livid. But she smiled again and held her hand out to me. " But I can show you. I need a ride home, don't think I have enough for the taxi fare, it's in Seattle, where you're staying, would you please take me home? I need to get back within the hour." Michelle asked.  
I looked at her skeptically, she was at my mercy, she had only been trying to make herself seem superior with those comments when all she needed was a ride home from me.

" I will take you home, just give me the address and we'll be on our way. I probably should get back there soon anyways." I said. I ran over to everyone, telling them goodbye.

" Happy Birthday Quil." I said while hugging him.

" Why are you taking her with you, she's a total bitch?" Quil asked. I smiled and laughed.

" It's the right thing to do." I said. I walked to my car, Michelle following me.

I started driving back to Seattle, I couldn't help but notice her clothing. It wasn't really something I noticed at the beach, but it definitely made a statement that only someone like me could let go unnoticed.

Her clothing showed a lot of skin. Her makeup was much heavier than it was in high school, and her hair looked like it was ratted to look larger. I was a little worried about where I was going to take her, I was almost considering allowing her to stay with Aro and I.

" So, any exercises that really help lose weight? I've been meaning to lose at least a couple pounds. Having a boyfriend and all, I don't want to seem like a fat slag." I asked. She looked at me shocked.

" You have a boyfriend?" Michelle asked like it was blasphemous. I sighed and focused on the road, allowing there to be a tensioned silence to take over the car.

" Of course I have a boyfriend, Italian school teachers can't afford cars this beautiful."

" You have a rich boyfriend?" Michelle again asked like it was blasphemous. " Why would a rich guy date you?"

I blew air out my nose, the teenage girl was starting to unearth itself. The rational side of my brain got the teenage side back in check, Michelle was just saying empty words with empty meanings.

We got to Seattle after the long, torturous drive, and I looked around for the address of Michelle's home. I eventually found it after much frustration. I then discovered this wasn't a home.

There were several women in lingerie and skimpy clothing, standing around a nasty looking apartment. They all looked dreary as some smoked their cigarettes and stood around, waiting for something to happen. I realize why Michelle seemed so sour, she was a prostitute.

" Oh my god." I muttered under my breath. I watched as Michelle got out of the car and walked away. I got out too and ran after her throwing my arms around her. " I am so sorry."

She started crying on my shoulder, hugging me in return. But she started growing cold, very cold. I couldn't feel a heartbeat through her large chest.

That's when I felt teeth sinking into my neck. I felt the most excruciating pain, it was like being burned to the point it felt cold, that everything was cold. I started screaming, hoping that Aro could hear me from this distance.

I began to lose my strength, the arms that were once around Michelle were now hanging limp at my sides, like arms of a rag doll. My knees bent as they would if I were to collapse. But I still had strength to scream, but my throat was growing terribly sore.

How did Michelle get past the Quileutes if she was a vampire? She seemed completely human before I hugged her. Was she just killing me for her satisfaction, or was she part of the Romanian coven? All of these things though were at the back of my mind and not brought up.

Right now I was thinking about how I never gave a formal goodbye to everyone I loved. If there were any regrets in life I could say were the most powerful, most horrible, it would be the fact I never said goodbye.

If Aro was coming, he would have been here by now. I was good as dead. My screams dwindled down to raspy sobs, my throat, among other things, felt like it was tearing itself apart.

My vision was getting blurry and I started hallucinating random colors. It was almost like everything had gone black and white. Random colors popped up, like the green of the trees, or droplet of blood that had splashed and landed on my left eyelash.

Then I saw the same dust that came out of the letter Vladimir sent me, but there was more, much more. Michelle was taken off of me and the dust kept her restrained against a wall. I saw my blood covering her mouth, when she barred her teeth, I could see that blood had stained the pure white of her teeth. It was surreal to think it was my blood, but at the same time, I felt like something was stolen from me.

But that was when I saw she was crying, sobbing like a child. I was shocked, was the dust torturing her?

" Please, don't hurt her!" I tried to say, but my voice was too hoarse to be understood by even myself.

Soon, some of the dust came to me and it formed into a dark skinned hand that rested on my neck. The pain was going away, whether it was because of death or not I wasn't sure of. But she started talking in a language I didn't understand.

Soon, I was alright again, as if nothing ever happened, it was as if she took away the pain and gave back the blood.

She looked at me and smiled, she put her hand on my chest, and I watched as it turned into dust, and I started flying away with her.

I was practically teleported back to the hotel room, where I saw Aro, who did not look like himself, he looked almost petrified, and his eyes seemed to be glazed over. I screamed at the sight of him, was he dead? He was sitting on a chair, but his posture wasn't right, and I could see dust circling around him. How could have this happened to him? It seemed impossible.

" No! What did you do!" I screamed. The woman shushed me.

" I did not do this, but I shall undo this." She said, she had a deep, but feminine voice .She walked over to the chair, it was the first time I got a good look at her.

She was a woman of average height and weight, she wore regular clothes, but had wildly curly hair, almost and afro. She kneeled down and placed her hand on Aro's chest. She closed her eyes and soon, his eyes flickered with life again.

" Aro! Are you alright?" I shouted, running towards him and holding him in my arms. I inspected him to see if anything was wrong, nothing seemed to be so far.

" I am fine. Elizabeth, your neck." Aro said, moving my hair away so he could get a proper look at my neck.

" She saved me, and you." I said. Aro veered to see the woman standing a few steps away, watching us with her hawk like eyes.

" It seems that I have traitors in my midst, and they have struck, following the Romanians. The one who bit your mate is among them, but she right now has been stopped, and is being watched over, since she is of your species, she will be tried and sentenced by you." The woman spoke, she was very militant in the way she stood, perfect posture, and she presented herself as being ready for anything.

" General Arietta." Aro spoke as if it was wondrous that he was seeing her again. He stood up and greeted her with a proper handshake. " How wonderful it is to see you again my dear general, and the timing impeccable. I thank you for saving our lives. But, enough with the sentimental chit chat, what happened?"

" As I said before, there are traitors among my kind who have put a numbing spell on you. Knowing about the curse I lifted, it was intended to last until the next nightfall, when you would be able to discover your mate was dead. Now, about your mate's attacker, she is a vampire, but her gift is to transform back into a human, heartbeat and all, she could even manipulate her own scent. But, I have a matter I wish to speak with you in private Aro. I find it most urgent. But I am afraid it will have to wait until the future." General Arietta reported.

" Of course General. I will find a time for this rendezvous, as soon as possible of course." Aro said, he looked around the room, his wide eyes were wider with a certain concerned curiosity.

" I will need to place the guilty vampire in your hands, for she is not of my species, so as law states, she is at your mercy. But I will give some advice, even though it is not my proper place. Kill her, her power is too dangerous, filled with deceit and lies. Stefan has wielded this power once, I pray you do not allow him to do so a second time." General Arietta advised Aro. Aro was about to speak until he was interrupted by something quite surprising.

" General Arietta! Master Aro! Michelle isn't a vampire! We checked, something possessed her, something powerful." A woman screamed, passing through the door like it wasn't solid. She carried an unconscious Michelle in her arms, a couple others assisted her. " What could possibly have enough power to change someone from one species to another?"

" Lieutenant Hildegard! There is no such thing still alive today. The only thing that could have done such a thing has been slaughtered before the humans became self aware. This obviously has been done by one of our kind, and one far beyond our power." General Arietta said.

" General, no witch is powerful enough to change species. I fear that-" The Lieutenant spoke before she was silenced by General Arietta's hand.

" Speak nothing of what I know you're about to say Lieutenant." Arietta spoke firmly.

" But-"

" That is an order Lieutenant Hildegard, now, you, Private Marilyn, Private Esmeralda, please place Michelle on the couch over there, and make sure that she will be comfortable. Michelle will need her memory wiped when she wakes up. We do not need another death. I fear that there will be too much bloodshed to come in the near future." General Arietta ordered the soldiers. " Now, I fear that it is time for us to depart, I have a festival to attend to, the Queen would be most distraught if her general did not personally guard her." Arietta said.

She and her soldiers gathered together, disintegrated into the dust, and flew out through the door. I couldn't believe it, these witches seemed like everyday humans like you or me, but they were remarkable, the most remarkable thing I might have ever seen.

I threw my arms around Aro and buried my face in his chest.

" Elizabeth. I apologize. Forgive me for not being there."

" As if you had the choice. But it seems that the battles we spoke of are now beginning. I think we'll have to cut this trip short, I don't want my family anywhere near this bloodshed." I said. " Whatever is about to go down isn't pretty."  
I changed from my damp clothes and soaked wetsuit into comfortable sleepwear, this day was a crazy one, too crazy to endure any longer. I was exhausted, and I still felt lightheaded and dizzy from Michelle's bite.

" What are you going to do with Michelle?" I asked as I got under the luxurious covers and pulled my book off the table next to my side of the bed. " I mean, she's innocent, she had no idea what she was doing when she bit me."

" She's innocent, of course, but I will still have to interrogate her before her memory is wiped. This will have nothing to do with her interrogation, but I have seen some of the things she said to you."

" Oh, yeah, it's nothing, high school rivalry stuff, it's really only a one sided hate now." I said, dismissing his claim that she might have hurt me with more than just a bite.

" It isn't just nothing though, I don't have to read your mind to know that."

Time seemed to slow down, I was embarrassed that Aro could see this part of my mind, these memories in particular, it made me seem like I was nothing more than an adult who didn't mature after high school.

" It's stupid though. Please, just don't worry about it."

" If you don't wish me meddling in the subject, I'll leave it at this." He paused, climbing under the covers with me and putting his arms around me. I put my book back on the table and he looked at me straight in the eyes, it was filled with a certain sentiment, but this red eyes also demanded my attention. " You're a beautiful woman, don't allow the words of another to tell you otherwise."

" Thank you." I said, not really knowing what else to say.

" I am actually taking a liking to your new figure. Call me old fashioned, but after living thousands of years in a world where a beautiful woman wasn't the one with the concave stomach and willowy figure, I'm not going to change my views in a couple short decades."

" You are so strange." I said. After growing up with the pressure of being thin, it seemed odd that a man would say straight up he didn't find it attractive. So many girls I knew, including me, have been so keen to lose weight because they were so worried that no one would find them attractive. It was like the world was lying this whole time, and for me, that was one hell of a good thing. " But I love it."

Aro smiled and his arms that wrapped around me in a romantically possessive manner pulled me into a kiss. I felt more than passion, I felt safe. After the thrills of jumping off cliffs and getting bitten by some faux vampire, I felt safe just to be under a thick warm blanket, having a lover's arms around me, and to be kissed.

The tender neutrality between our lips and tongue gradually moved towards Aro having the upper ground. He ran this, it was his nature to be the leader of things, and at least in my opinion, he was a brilliant leader.

The night passed on, hours of contact between our lips and tongues seemed like only minutes or so. When Aro finally stopped, I looked at the grandfather clock on the other side of the room, it was one in the morning, and tomorrow, I was planning on going fishing with dad and some of the other guys. I said my goodnight to Aro and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to kick in. Just before I was completely asleep, I could feel Aro's cool lips just ghosting my ear.

" I love you."

_Author's Note: And the award for the most cliche chapter ending goes to ME! Look at all the fucks I give :D _


	18. Michelle

_Author's Note: I probably won't do this for any other characters, but Michelle is a really special character to me for some reason, far more special than Elizabeth. I have a sort of theme song for her in this chapter. It's 'Bad Wolf/The Doctor's Theme' from the Doctor Who soundtrack._

Michelle was still lying on the couch, the light from the sunrise colored her face with golden light and had dramatic shadows. I pulled up one of the luxurious chairs to sit beside her, setting a cup of tea on the coffee table in cast if she woke.

Out of curiosity, I decided to take an even closer look at her, she was bruised like she had been badly beaten, and behind caked on makeup that was starting to fade away, she had a rather large black eye. Never did I think Michelle would end up like this, but fate had another idea.

She had everything she wanted in high school, everything anyone ever wanted, money, popularity, beauty, and a bright future ahead of her. But here she was now, in my care after she had been possessed. Her face, I figured it might have been drugs, was starting to lose its youth before its time, there was no blush in her cheeks, and if there was, it would have been artificial. She was now alone, and making her living by giving her emaciated body to the sexually starving.

Aro just finished a rather heated phone call, he was just about screaming at whoever was on the other line. Aro slammed the phone back in its holder and held his head in his hand, massaging his temples with his thumb and middle finger.

" Are you alright?" I asked.

" Once again Afton is acting like an idiot, the only reason he's in our coven is because he is Chelsea's mate. Must he always be so dim witted?" Aro snarled.

" What exactly did he do?" I asked, curious to know what the hell Afton did to make Aro this enraged.

" He was spying on the Romanians, and he was caught in the act, but left unscathed. The Romanians know we are on to them, which means, we might be coming face to face with Romanian spies in the near future." Aro said.

I held my hand out to Aro. We looked each other in the eye, Aro smiled and walked over to my, holding my hand in both of his. He looked down at Michelle. There was knowledge in his eyes, like he had seen this type of thing before.

The telephone rang again, Aro was soon back on the phone, returning to his screaming and hollering at the person on the other line. I sighed, ever since this first attack on Aro and I, it seems that I have been the only one Aro has shown any sort of kindness.

I heard a small, shuffling sound nearby. I looked and saw that Michelle was squirming a little on the couch. She rubbed her eyes before slowly opening them. She squinted a little when she saw the sun.

_*~*Michelle*~*_

It took me a second to remember everything that happened last night. When I heard Elizabeth's voice, I was relieved of a guilt I feared I would have to live with. For a moment, I feared I killed her last night.

I opened my eyes to see the light that came from sunrise, it just about blinded, me, I was far more used to the dark than the light now, I generally slept for a good portion of the day.

I saw Elizabeth, she was sitting my side, she was calling someone by the name of Aro, who I presumed was the Italian boyfriend she was talking about earlier. My ears now picked up that he was snarling to himself, but when he mentioned another name, it brought be to assume he was on the telephone.

It was in a flash that he appeared next to Elizabeth. He was definitely odd, he didn't look like most men I've ever seen before. He looked anemic just about, but the thing that really shook me about his appearance was his red eyes. Was this guy albino? No, he had black hair, albinos are blond, or at least I think they are.

" Michelle." Elizabeth said. I tried sitting up, but Elizabeth's hand came on my shoulder, and I laid down again, learning that I would have been too weak anyways. " You need to lay down still. I've brought you a cup of tea, I'll make you some breakfast, it'll only be a bit."

" I'm not hungry." I said. Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at me.

" You look like you're starving to death, you need to eat something!" Elizabeth told me, she was insistent. I sighed and gave up, I could tell already that this wouldn't be a battle I would win.

I waited for a few minutes until Elizabeth came back to me with a plate of bacon and fried eggs that were over medium, generally I liked them over easy, but this would do just fine. I haven't had anything to eat besides ramen noodles since last Christmas at my parent's house.

Elizabeth sat me up and propped a pillow behind me so I was comfortable. I tried reaching over for the food, but Elizabeth handed it to me before I could. I was shocked that she would be so nice to me after all the things I called her when we were kids, and of course almost killing her last night.

" Where am I?" I asked.

" We're in the Fairmont Olympic, Seattle on of course." Elizabeth said.

I almost spit out my food when I heard the words Fairmont Olympic. She wasn't joking that her boyfriend was wealthy. It seemed that he was wealthy enough to get some super mega suite in what was probably the most luxurious hotel in Washington State.

" Holy shit, I didn't think I was ever going to end up here." I said with some weak laughter.

" What happened to you last night?" Aro asked. I sighed, I knew I was going to be asked that question, I just didn't know how to answer it without sounding like a crazy person.

" You guys are going to think I'm insane when I tell you this, but it's the truth, I swear. I was in Seattle, in my apartment, and this man came in, he had flowers, chocolates, and a giant teddy bear. He was like you." I said, pointing to Aro. " He was really pale, red eyes. But anyways, he told me he'd take me away from my life, that he'd love me forever. Generally, I would know how cheesy that was and back out, but, there was just something about him than made me say yes." I paused, swallowing, tears ran down my cheeks. Elizabeth's hand rested on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. I smiled at her efforts, but nothing would work.

" We had drinks, and he must have slipped something into mine. I suddenly had this thirst for blood, but it was like there was a part of me still in there, screaming at me to stop, but this new, bloodthirsty part of me was stronger. He, he took me into the bedroom, and I'm sure you can guess what happened, the bloodthirsty me wanted it though. Then the man, he ordered me to kill you, so by some weird instinct, I found you. Then everything else happened." I said, I began to sob uncontrollably, tears falling into the tea I clung to tightly to.

I felt Elizabeth's arms around me. I felt humiliated that I was even crying.

" Why are you being so nice to me?" I blubbered. It was random, but I had to ask. " After everything I've done to you?"

" One, most of what you have done to me was when we were kids, it doesn't matter now. Two, you were drugged when you bit me, you didn't have a say in anything you did." Elizabeth said.

" Thirdly, Stefan, the man who did this to you." Aro added. " Would have killed you for failing." Aro moved away from Elizabeth, and began to pace around the room, he seemed to be in deep though.

" When can I leave?" I asked.

" We have some visitors coming, they are going to wipe your memory, you can't be a part of this world, you need to go back to the life you lived before this." Elizabeth said.

" No, I can't, not now." I begged. " I've seen too much to want to go back."

" That's exactly my point Michelle, you've seen too much." Elizabeth replied. " You won't have to remember Stefan and what he did to you."

" But, why do you get to know? I have to remember, I have to remember what he did to me." I said, I was starting to sound like I was speaking complete nonsense.

" Michelle, I have no power to change the laws, I wish I could, but I can't." Elizabeth said.

Now she was starting to not make any sense. What laws? Why couldn't she change them? Why did she get to know all of this? It wasn't fair! I was still too weak to move, but if I wasn't weak, I would have started running.

I heard a knock at the door, and I knew that it was too late. Every memory, every painful memory would be gone, stolen from me. But according to Elizabeth, it was how it was supposed to be. I sniffled, it was like everything revolutionary in my life was being taken away from me in a single moment, and I would soon return to my life as a prostitute on the streets on Seattle, to be the scum of this earth and live a tedious, horrible life.

I suppose this was Elizabeth's final revenge on me, not that I say I would blame her, I was a complete bitch in school. But I wasn't going to say sorry to her now, not after she told me that I was going to forget all of this. I knew she was just the messenger, but the fact that she was the tangible one to say no made it so much easier to hate her even more.

Women I recognized from last night walked through the door, literally, walked through the door. They looked like normal everyday women with their jeans, yoga pants, and hoodies, but I could tell immediately that they were far from ordinary.

They way they walked made it look like they were floating, but as they approached closer, I could see that they were actually floating. One of them put her hand on my chest, and before I could stop her, her hand lit up, and it felt like she was taking something away from me.

I soon started forgetting things, I tried resisting, trying to hold on to those memories, but it was no use. Soon I forgot everything I once knew, and the world went black and still, like I was taken out of time.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

Michelle was laying there, peacefully. I stood back, wondering if I had done the right thing by allowing her memory to be taken away. I mean, it was law, but was it right? The thing I felt worse about than having her forget last night, was that I was allowing her to go back into the world, living her life as a prostitute.

" Take her back to her home, she will most likely be expecting to be there." Aro said. The witches nodded in reply and obeyed, taking Michelle's limp body, and leaving with it.

I watched, knowing that there was nothing I could do to convince them to undo their actions if it was possible, there was nothing I could do to change her life. She was probably going to wake up, thinking that she was drugged or drunk, and would so back into the streets.

" I'm sorry." Aro said, his arm around my shoulders. I felt awful that Aro could also feel my regret. " But it is the way things have to be." Aro said. I sniffled and nodded.

" I know." I whispered weakly, looking at the floor. " Oh no, I'm going to be late for the fishing trip with my dad, it's sunrise, it's when the time is the best-" I would have spoken more, but Aro tenderly shushed me while putting his long finger on my lips.

" I will take you there, not by car, but by running, that is after you get ready." Aro said. I smiled.

" Thanks." I said.

" You're welcome my love." Aro said, kissing me tenderly on the lips. The kiss, along with its pleasures, only made me feel the guilt about Michelle, it was a guilt I feared would live with me for a long time.

" I'm sorry I'm not all cheery, I just don't feel right." I said. Aro chuckled and put his free arm around my waist.

" I have always found it fascinating that a rival is still held close to a person's heart, closer than friends, and sometimes even family. It just proves that hate is just a more painful type of love. Though, it is probably closer to obsession. The true opposite of love, is indifference." Aro said. The words he spoke reminded me of something Shakespeare would have written, and in Aro's voice, it sounded even more like poetry.

" I've never though of it that way." I muttered. " I suppose you're right."

I kissed Aro once again before leaving his arms, hoping not to give him the impression that I was growing distant from him again, I had learned from those few months ago that guilt and fear should not be an excuse for negative behavior. I left for the bathroom to get my teeth brushed. I looked in the extravagant mirror, and I asked myself a vital question for probably the millionth time today.

_Have I done the right thing?_


	19. A Guide to the Supernatural:For Fathers

_Author's Note: This chapter has a lot of point of view switches, so if that bothers you, I am terribly sorry. This chapter is also really weird and I have no idea how I even came up with this shit. _

_ *~*Frank*~*_

" How's Liz doing? I haven't talked to her for years." Charlie asked.

" She's doing good, graduated, got a job in Italy, got a boyfriend." I said as I packed the fishing equipment.

" She seems to be doing good for herself." Charlie said. " What about this boyfriend. What do you think about him?" Charlie asked.

I figured that Charlie would be curious about my daughter's boyfriend after Bella got her first boyfriend and ended up marrying him. The fact Bella got married so young was fairly tough on Charlie, especially when he hated Edward.

" He's alright I guess. Old fashioned gentleman type, treats her well, doesn't grope her in public, opens the door and offers to pay for dinner. He's wealthy too, got a 34 Duesenberg." I said, the mention of the car got Charlie's attention even higher than it was. " But the thing I can tell the most from him is that he's done playing the field, he's really looking to settle down."

" Sounds like Edward, I'd be concerned." Charlie said.

" Oh, no, he is nothing like him. He doesn't have a pussy car." I said. Charlie and I had a laugh. " But no, he really is done playing the field, but he's willing to wait for Liz. Also they don't have that obsession thing."

" Well that's good. I mean, I'm happy for Bells, and their marriage will last, but just how they got to that point makes me cringe." Charlie said.

" It makes every father cringe when their little girl has a man in her life. Just because I like Aro, doesn't mean I don't want to punch him in the face." I counseled Charlie.

" Aro?" He asked.

" Name of her boyfriend." I told him. " Sorry."

" No, no, it's fine." Charlie said, he seemed very concerned.

" You okay Chief?" I asked.

" Frank, I think we need to visit the Cullens." Charlie said.

" Why?"

" They'll explain everything to you, I'll drive you over there." Charlie said. This was strange for Charlie, Charlie didn't get all dramatic and cryptic.

" Charlie, you can just tell me." I said. Charlie wasn't listening though. " Charlie, tell me right now."

" Frank, just listen to me!" Charlie said, raising his voice. I never heard Charlie raise his voice before. It was official, this was completely vital. I nodded wearily and followed him out to his cruiser.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

Aro and I arrived to my dad's house, except for he wasn't there. I started investigating, I looked around the garage, which frightened me, dad always closed the garage door before leaving.

" Dad?" I called out, but there was no answer. I got really scared really quickly that the Romanians might have taken him. " Dad!" I screamed. " Where are you?"

That's when I saw a knife covered in blood in my dad's garage, my irrational mind assume the worst and I started bawling and I fell to the floor. Dad always cleaned his knifes, that is if they weren't used against him.

" Elizabeth, Elizabeth!" Aro said, standing me back up again. " It's not human blood, it's deer blood." Aro told me.

" But-" I said, it was all I could say. I felt like an idiot now. Don't mind me, I'm just the stupid girl who's sobbing on the floor because there was deer blood on a knife. " He always cleans his knives and closes the garage door. Where could he have gone?" I asked, my voiced was choked up.

" I'm sure he's just gone to run an errand real quick and didn't think it was necessary to do any of that." Aro counseled me.

" He isn't running an errand." I said, pointing at a car in the driveway. " That's his car."

_*~*Frank*~*_

Being inside the Cullen's house was quite awkward. Everything was too clean, and had that modern minimalist feel to it. This wasn't like anything else in Forks, this was practically Seattle, heck, maybe even New York brought into its polar opposite.

I was sitting down on one of the couches, waiting for someone to tell me why the hell Charlie was acting so weird, but they were pretty much debating about whether they should tell me or not. It was getting annoying. I was a man, I could handle it, apparently Charlie thought I could handle it, so why didn't the Cullens?

They came to their decision and soon sat down on the other furniture.

" Deputy Ward, we have decided to tell you something. This information could put you in a lot of danger, do you still want to know?" Dr. Cullen spoke. I nodded.

" Charlie got messed up when I mentioned the name Aro, I wanna know what the hell is wrong with him." I said.

" How do I say this?" Carlisle asked himself.

" Say it like it is, get to the point." I said. Carlisle gave me a false smile, still thinking about what to say. " Is it really that complex?" I asked. Come on, it was probably something stupid that Aro and the Cullens got in a fight over which one of them would obtain the designer sweater or something stupid like that.

" Alright, if you can't use your words, I will. All of this lot are vampires and Aro is a vampire." Charlie said.

I started laughing, this must have been some kind of lame joke, but it was lame enough that it was brilliant. But Charlie didn't start laughing with me, which he usually did after a prank, and none of the Cullens were laughing either.

" So you aren't kidding?" I asked. I was trying to absorb all of it in, but it was too weird, it was surreal. " Damn, that is weird." I said, I spaced out, looking at something that didn't seem to be there. " Is Elizabeth safe?" I asked.

" With Aro, yes. There are a few things we need to explain to you. Aro is a leader to a coven called the Volturi. Our species lives in a monarchy, and Aro, along with two others, Marcus and Caius, are kings of our world, but it is universally recognized that Aro is the highest ranking of the three."

" So, you guys, you know, drink blood?" I asked, it was a dumb question, but it was all I could muster up at the moment.

" My family and I drink the blood of animals. But Aro and his coven drinks the blood of humans, which is more commonplace." Carlisle told me. " Don't worry about Elizabeth though, Aro will not hurt her, and she knows about our kind."

" How do you know that?" I asked.

" We discovered that she and Aro were destined to be together when she came to Forks to complete her high school career. Alice can see the future, and she had a vision of them together. Your daughter went to Italy for her student teaching, which is when they established their relationship. It is against our laws to tell humans about our existence, but I think that if anyone deserves the right no know, you do." Carlisle explained.

" Why wouldn't she tell me?" I asked. Elizabeth was generally open about this kind of stuff.

" She might not have been ready to tell you so soon, it might have made her seemed too attached too quickly." Alice said. " She probably would have told you, it just wouldn't be now."  
" Dad!" I heard a voice call. I stood bolt upright. Looking out the window, I saw Elizabeth running towards the door, Aro running beside her. I heard a loud pounding on the front door. " Let me in Carlisle!" She spoke in an assertive tone that I very rarely heard from her.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

" You told him!" I screamed at Carlisle. " Why? Why would you do such a horrible thing behind my back?" I said, lowering my voice a little bit. I turned to Aro and fell to my knees. " Please, don't, please!" I begged, grabbing his hand so he could see exactly what I was talking about. I was in tears, I had been in tears too many times today.

Aro sat me down on one of the couches and held me in his arms. He didn't say anything, which got me worried, I begged though my sobs. I was not about to see my father die today.

" Carlisle, did you forget our laws?" Aro sneered, looking Carlisle straight in the eye. " I could have you sentenced to death for this, you are not any different than others of our kind. Time and time again your coven has broken our laws, and you have used your last chance Carlisle."

" Whoa, buddy, easy there." My dad tried saying. " They thought it was important, give them a break."

" They had no right whatsoever to reveal this secret, that was up for Elizabeth to decide." Aro snapped at my dad, standing bolt upright, so the fight was to begin.

" Oh yeah, keep me in the dark until it's convenient for you!" Dad shouted at Aro, shoving him. The room went silent except for my pathetic crying, no one just simply shoved the king of the vampire world and got away with it. Well, that was before today.

" Never do that again Mr. Ward." Aro warned in a low voice, grabbing my father's shirt with both hands, his eyes locked with dad's to make sure he had his undivided attention. When Aro had faith that my dad got the message loud and clear, he let go of him and stormed over to Carlisle.

_*~*Aro*~*_

" Aro, you don't have to do this." Carlisle spoke. I laughed at his pathetic begging for mercy, he has begged too many times before, never again.

" Stop your pathetic pleas Cullen." I hissed. " I have an offer to make you." I paused, Carlisle nodded for me to tell him this offer. I smiled, back a few steps away and started pacing around the living room.

" I have two choices for you to consider Carlisle. First, you all will be executed, which would be such a terrible, but necessary waste. Or, the latter, which I do hope you choose. As of last night, we are preparing for war against the Romanians, and I want you and your wolves as allies to the Volturi, we could use your gifts to make quicker work of eradicating them once and for all." I told Carlisle. " It is your choice my old friend, surely, you don't wish the death of your coven." I added, pivoting on my right heel and walking up to Esme. " Or your mate." Esme gave me a look like I was despicable, and I didn't expect any other look. I turned sharply away from her and waited for Carlisle's answer.

" My coven will join you." Carlisle said, he was saddened to say it too. I smiled, clapping my hands together.

" Excellent! Be expecting to house a member of my guard who will keep a close watch on you. My dear Carlisle, I would never kill you unless if you waged a true war against the Volturi, you are allies that are far too useful." I spoke giddily. I waltzed back to Elizabeth, who's crying stopped, I swept her off her feet and kissed her on the lips, fully celebrating my victory, hubris now ran through my veins. Her dreary face turned into a happy smile, she stared at me with warm, loving eyes.

" Finally, after centuries my love, do I have the Cullens as bound allies." Everyone was giving me curious, shocked looks. " Come my darling, we must celebrate."

" Umm, Aro?" Elizabeth asked me. This new surge of pride made my darling Elizabeth even more adorable than she already was.

" Yes my love?" I asked, kissing her once again. She giggled and rested her hand on my cheek.

" What about the fishing trip with my dad." She spoke in a bubbly laugh. I remembered why we were originally here. I put her back on her feet and put my arms around her waist.

" Of course my dear, I must depart for Seattle to tell the coven of the news before the sun rises too high. I will leave you to your family obligations my darling." I said, pulling her into another kiss before racing off to tell the coven of my glorious victory.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

After Aro left, I started laughing hysterically. What the hell was going on with that man and why did I find it absolutely adorable? I have seen the cheery crazy side of Aro before, and I can't but help to love it. Sure, most girls don't fall for the man with the maniacal laugh and who becomes mentally unstable when happy, but apparently I wasn't most girls.

" So that's the guy you're dating?" My dad asked. I smiled at him and nodded.

" I suppose so." I told my dad.

" You think we should tell your mom about this?" Dad asked.

" Probably since you know now." I said.

" Whoever loses at this game of rock paper scissors is the one that has to tell your mother." My dad said.

" Game on."

We played best two out of three and I won. My dad groaned, he was the one who would have to explain to my mom that vampires existed and that I was dating one of them. My mom would probably think that my dad was drunk or something and laugh, so I would probably have to end up telling her myself so she would believe it, but I would save that part for later.


	20. Sesso al Chiaro di Luna

_Author's Note: After seven chapters of long, pornless drawls of words and paragraphs, I now give you porn once again._

The two weeks passed by quickly without any other problems that involved the Romanians or anyone besides them. Of course, before leaving Washington, Aro and I went to the many museums in Tacoma. Aro made sure we spent as much time in the LeMay American car museum as possible, he looked about ready to give a marriage proposal to the 1920's Rolls Royce. I would admit, I would probably fully support him that car was so beautiful.

On the plane home reminded me of how awkward I felt sitting in first class, to be honest, I preferred coach. Call me crazy, but there was just something about first class that bothered me. Yes there were comfortable seats and better food, but there was just something about not getting a bag of those stale little Chex Mix knockoffs that saddened me, even though those things were absolutely disgusting. Probably just my love for nostalgia, whether it is Chex Mix or anything Lisa Frank when I was in elementary school.

We had been back in Volterra for a few hours, Aro had immediately found himself busy with discussions about the war that was approaching, leaving me alone to laze around and be bored.

I decided to open my laptop the first time in two weeks and see if anything had been going on in the world of the internet. I uploaded some of the photographs of my trip to Washington on Facebook, I didn't upload any photos of Aro, the whole secrecy thing he had going on, I didn't want to risk it.

I shut down my laptop and put it away. It was about evening by now, and I decided to go to bed early so that I could ease back into the time zone easier. It had just turned dusk, it was time to lay down with a good book, lighting a candle so I would have light to see the text.

I sat there in peace for a while, all comfortable from finally being in my own bed, in a comfortable white robe, and the smell of old books and burning candles filling my nose. The only sounds that filled the bedchamber was my breathing and the rustle of turning pages.

I closed my book and blew out my candle, trying to get to sleep. I was miserably failing, the different time zones were messing with my sleep patterns. So I laid down, incredibly bored and awake enough that it would be vain for me to even try to get to sleep. This is how I would remain for what felt like a half an hour or so until I heard the plucking of strings. I wondered if Aro was somewhere playing the cello, but the pizzicato sounded different.

I went to investigate, and Aro was sitting outside on the balcony, playing an instrument that appeared to be a lute, all while he looked out into the night with a cautious, watchful eye. I noticed the music coming from the lute, it was different than many other times I has heard recordings of lute. I never heard any lute music I could classify as sexy, but lute was an instrument, at least from what I heard, that could portray many emotions.

I walked onto the balcony and sat next to Aro, watching him closely as he played the instrument. Like with just about anything else, he was completely precise, every note was perfectly in tune, every string was plucked perfectly. I also took notice of how his fingers moved around the fingerboard, everything about his playing position was perfect. This music was definitely the most beautiful I ever heard, and the musician was far more beautiful than the sounds that came from his instrument.

It was amazing that he could play so perfectly, but keep his eyes on me at all times. He smiled and stopped his playing, setting the lute back in its case that sat to the small wooden table.

" How did it go?" I asked.

" As well as a war meeting could go I suppose." Aro paused, staring straight into the full moon. " Stefan's forces are fighting amongst themselves at the moment, it wasn't an intelligent idea to have trolls and banshees in the same army." Aro looked back at me and reached out for my hand. I offered it to him and he took it. " Allow me to change the subject, war, while fascinating, is such a dreary topic."

" Of course. You never told me you also played lute, and you still have yet to play cello for me." I said.

" I haven't taken the lute out for about six decades, it was time for something a little different." Aro told me.

" You're a wonderful musician." I told him.

" It helps having enhanced senses." Aro said. Afterwards, he looked at me like I was a strange specimen in a laboratory, inspecting me. As if showing a sign of approval, a smirk curved his lips along with a raise of his dark eyebrow. He stood up and took me with him, his powerful, but gentle grasp on my hand was enough for him to pull me closer to him. After wrapping his arm partially around me and splaying his hand on my back, he closed any distance left between us. " I also have talented hands." Aro added, his voice seemed to have gone an octave deeper, I could feel my chest shiver as a result.

" How talented?"

" The best"

" Prove it." I whispered.

The hand that wasn't splayed on my back cradled the back of my head, pulling me into a kiss, he tongue immediately passing my lips, making itself welcome. His tongue almost immediately rubbed against the roof of my mouth, a sensitive part of my mouth that Aro loved using to his advantage. To have anything and everything bent to his will was what Aro desperately tried to accomplish, and I was a success which he never would dare allow to slip from his fingers.

I was becoming less sure that my body would support me when Aro with no warning, swept me off my feet, the next thing I noticed was that I was on the bed. Aro with icy hands opened my legs and made himself comfortable kneeling in between them. His arms were just under mine, wrapping around my upper back and pulling me up closer to him until our chests were flush against each other, so our lips were close enough for yet another kiss. An arm unwrapped itself from my back, and its hand rested on my heart, feeling for its erratic pulse. From what I could see, Aro was pleased from its rhythm, a quick little grin flashing across his face.

The hand that rested upon my heart was not satisfied, to satisfy his lewd craving, he grabbed my breast, kneading the soft flesh between his long fingers that chilled me through my robe. My hands slid up from his shoulder blades to his black mane of hair. I ran my hands through it, grasping the fine strands

Aro was done with the silly games of clothed foreplay. The hand that had a hold of my breast caressed down my torso until he got to the tie of my robe, Aro untied it with an expert hand. I could see the grin on his face when he saw that the robe was the only layer he would need to remove to reveal my nude body. Aro held me away from his body, positioning me so he had easy access to take my nipple in his icy mouth, I could feel it harden from cold and arousal.

One of the hands that Aro used to support me caressed my quim, prying the fleshy folds with two eager fingers and rubbing my clitoris gently. My hands loosened their grip on Aro's hair and fell back to his shoulder blades, one touch was all it took for Aro to remove the hard shell I used to guard myself, to have the soft, helpless center exposed to him. My exposure even had its own call, a protracted moan that told Aro everything he wanted to hear. I was his, and I loved it.

My quim was sopping. This man was going to sodden the sheets if he didn't do something soon. I could feel one of Aro's long fingers slip easily into me, despite how tight my quim must have been. Having Aro's long, graceful fingers inside of my body was far more effective than my short fingers, being able to reach depths I could never dream of. After feeling his finger deep inside me, I came to the conclusion that Aro ruined my own hands for me.

Aro's finger made a come hither gesture inside me, rubbing my upper wall with the smooth digit. My fingers dug deep in his shoulders. Aro seemed to know my body like the back of his hand, his fingers were careful to fully stimulate the part of me that made me quiver in delight. My legs wrapped around Aro like a trap. His free arm laid me back down on the bed, and its hand caressed down my torso and rubbed my clitoris while its partner slipped another finger into my core. It only took moments of this intense stimulation to have me squirming on the bed. My quim clenched his fingers tightly, releasing hot, gratifying sensations throughout my body, my abdomen tightened, something that had a feeling similar to my muscles tying themselves in high pressured knots. My breathing went heavy, my chest almost looked like it was rolling when it rose and fell.

Aro's hand pivoted around, his fingers still stimulating my clitoris while the palm of his hand pressed down on my abdomen, increasing the already high pressure. My back immediately arched to the furthest it could, my hips thrusting against his hand. I mewled stridently when two fingers deep within my quim became three, widening the tight orifice that would have not allowed access if it wasn't for the wetness that came along with the intense arousal.

" God yes! Aro, don't stop, please!" I moaned, begging for him to allow my release. He only smirked, continuing to fuck me with his large hands. His hands were not perfect like others in the Volturi, scars littered its surface, and they looked extremely work worn, as if his injuries and leathered skin from his human life did not fade during his time as a vampire. No matter how smooth and clear another man's hands were, they would never compare to Aro's, it was almost as if they were designed to hold mine, to cup my face, and pleasure me carnally.

" My darling, I am far too anxious for you screaming my name, and the beautiful expressions your face when you do so. Even after you come for me my pretty little minx, you will not have seen the last of me." Aro spoke, his voice was lower and quieter than usual, his intensity and speed at which he pleasured me increased, if I had thought my screaming was loud before, now it was assured that I would end up losing my voice by the end of the night. " Every little moan that passes through your lips makes me all the more impatient." Aro said, smirking as his hands worked me faster and more intense with each sound that I might have made. My quim contracted around Aro's fingers sporadically, I was so close to coming I could hardly stand it, and neither could Aro.

" Eliza my darling, come." He ordered, and like a faithful servant I did. Hot sensations spread throughout my body more intense than any moment before, this orgasm opened my mind, I could feel everything that was happen to me, every nerve was completely conscious of things like where exactly on my body Aro's hands were. It was bliss at its finest, not just the sensations that panned throughout my body, but the glee on Aro's face, the smile that said everything about how much pride he had from being able to do this to me.

After the long, pleasurable orgasm, I collapsed onto the bed, I was covered in sweat and succulence from my quim, my body was simply a heap of reddened, satisfied flesh. Whatever Aro had prepared for me, I was not ready for it, I needed to rest, hopefully I wasn't exhausted enough to fall asleep.

Aro laid down beside me, holding me in his embrace which I responded to, hugging his body to me tightly and moaning lightly. His cool body helped balance out the heat on my skin.

" That possibly might have been the most fantastic thing you have every done to me. Before we do anything, may I have a moment to regain some of my senses?" I asked, my voice was quiet, and slightly shaky from the amount of screaming I had previously done.

" Of course my dear, take all the time you need." Aro replied, kissing my sweaty forehead, if I wasn't already completely red, I would have blushed at that. One minute Aro would be saying sexual things in a deep, velvety voice, and then the next, he would do something so sweet as kissing me on the forehead. I would have to repay him somehow, but what exactly to do.

We laid like this for several minutes in silence, enjoying each other's company. It was then that I had a plan of how exactly I would repay Aro, and had the strength to do it. I threw one of my legs over his body and sat up on his torso. Aro was shocked by the sudden movement, I was careful to execute my plan before he could say anything. I unbuttoned his shirt until the halfway point, by then I was impatient enough to tear the thing off of him. My hands caressed his torso up to his shoulders, which my hands went around to assist moving his shirt along with his robes.

My hands explored his torso, he did not have the bulging six packs abs that many women squealed over, through his front was relatively flat and compact. His arms were fantastic, the perfect combination of muscular sculpt and slenderness, to have them wrapped around me made me feel more special than I actually was, I felt like a queen.

My hands wandered down Aro's body and I smirked when I got a good look at the prominent bulge in Aro's trousers. I cupped the large bulge with my hand, and with my thumb and forefinger, I unbuttoned and unzipped them, pulling them off his legs roughly.

I was pleased to see Aro's thick cock trying desperately to escape the confines of his underwear. I wanted to tease Aro to see how long it took for his cock to fully escape his underwear, but I decided against it, he didn't tease me, so I wouldn't play dirty. I reached into his underwear and grabbed his cock and releasing it from fabric confines, I pulled his undergarment off his legs and came back, boldly kissing his cock, eliciting a deep groan. I moved upwards more so I could whisper in his ear, my hand reaching to circle around the hilt of his cock.

" Mine." I whispered.

_To be continued…_


	21. Costretto

Author's Note: I'm really bad at writing porn from a guys point of view, not being a guy myself and also being a virgin makes that a difficulty. But I thought you all would like some male point of view after a whole lot of chapters ;)

*~*Aro*~*  
This would surely be an entertaining little show Elizabeth was about to put for me. Very rarely did she conquer and dominate me in anything, and never in the bedroom, I would allow her as an experiment, to see if this brilliant woman had the capability to put me in my place. Never has a woman even dared climb on top of me and tell me that I was hers, it was like they have all been too scared to really do anything that would show any signs of not being submissive.

It made me realize that whenever someone questioned my total authority, they ended up dead. For example rebelling against the Volturi's laws, or trying to conquer us and take the vampire world for their own. I was not one to be trifled with, and that counted towards every aspect in my life. That was until Elizabeth, and it fascinated me more with every second that passed by.

Elizabeth straddled my body, I could still feel the heat leftover from the pleasure I had given her earlier, her skin still had a red tinge to its surface. But her eyes were beckoning me instead of the other way around, I must have been rubbing off on her because in comparison to any glace and glare she might have given me, she looked dangerous, but still inviting, it was as if Don Juan had taken a woman's form.

Her small, soft hand grasped around the hilt of my cock, the 'O' in which her hand made around it was gradually lessening in circumference until her hand was quite snug around the member. She slid her hand upwards slowly, the 'O' that her hand once made was loosened, so her fingers could feel my cock properly, every vein that had protruded, every smooth, hard inch of flesh now had been touched by her hand.

Her small thumb ghosted the tip, my cock becoming more erect, pushing upwards so her thumb had more of a slope than it previously had. Elizabeth noticed this growth, and was particularly spooked, or in her words, it isn't done yet? Elizabeth finally came to accept this, and her dainty hand went to work on me.  
She didn't simply just stroke my cock up and own with one hand at a single speed and a single pressure, she started out slow and light, gradually tightening and pulling faster until her hand started having an effect on my body, making me groan from the hard heat I felt stiffening my body. Elizabeth chuckled, it made me shiver in delight that she enjoyed dominating me as much as I did her, and this wasn't simply a kind gift she felt obligated to give.

Her thumb stroked the underside of the head, a sensitive area that if I had no control over myself, I might have came. She smiled when she saw my reaction, my muscles tensing, her free hand caressed down my torso, feeling the muscles get more compact every time she stroked that one spot on the head of my phallus.

" Where did you learn that from?" I asked, groaning loudly when more pressure was added to the head.

" The internet." She replied. " Surprised it worked."

" Anything else you've learned?" I asked.

" Why spoil the surprise?"

" There is no such thing as a surprise as long as you're touching me." I said, challenging her. But she only looked back at me, raising her eyebrows, ready to make her comeback.

" Do you want me to stop?" Elizabeth asked. Elizabeth put all the pressure she could put into the head of my cock, my back started rising into a submissive arch.

" God no Elizabeth!" I screamed. " Don't you dare!"

" Good. I was having too much fun anyways." Elizabeth replied, her voice sultry and chilling.

She continued her torture on my cock, white liquid started oozing from its tip. With a devilish gleam in Elizabeth's eye, she lowered her head down and licked the oozing liquor off the head of my cock. From what I knew from reading her mind, she enjoyed the taste of the liquid, and her tongue enjoyed the texture of my cock. Her soft tongue flicked across the upper regions of my cock. I was very tempted to reposition Elizabeth and thrust myself all the way into her mouth so I could feel the warm velvet of her throat. But, I abstained from the temptation, I would have many more opportunities in the future.

Her tongue replaced the thumb that stroked the underside of the tip and her hands took my testicles and held them in her hands, fondling and squeezed the sensitive flesh gently. My groans started turning into screams when Elizabeth's lips wrapped around my cock and she lowered her head until she reached its hilt. She had a hard struggle not gagging and releasing my cock before she was satisfied with how long she had it down her soft throat.

Elizabeth's lips tightened around my cock as she slowly made her way back to the tip, licking it with the smooth underside of her tongue, contrasting with the rougher upper part of her tongue. Elizabeth's hand no longer fondled my testicles, but instead grabbed my ass as her mouth took my cock again, sliding down to the hilt slowly and steadily. Elizabeth's tongue slid out of her full mouth and did its best to lick my testicles. I threw my head back, control was something I was losing to Elizabeth's warm little mouth.

" Suck harder!" I hissed through my barred teeth, every part of my body was tense, every muscle clenched, every nerve set alight with pleasure, this was only to be magnified when Eliza's lips soon had more suction when her mouth slid up again, releasing my cock with a satisfying pop.

On Elizabeth's next downward stroke, I came deep in her mouth, feeling her nails dig into my ass from the fright of having my seed spilling down her throat all at once. My muscles contracted violently and every nerve ending in my body made itself known, this orgasm left no part of my body untouched by the pleasure Elizabeth gave me. Elizabeth did her best to swallow all of my cum, but when all was said and done, there was a good amount dripping off her chin onto her breasts. Elizabeth sat back up, still straddling me, she coughed violently, the corners of her eyes were reddened and wet from forcing herself to take all of me in.

I gave Elizabeth a few moments for her to collect herself, I looked over at one of the silk ribbons that secured the curtains to the four poster bed, and looked back at Elizabeth. She would look rather ravishing having her wrists tied up.

I grabbed one of the ribbons as fast as I could and snatched Elizabeth's wrists, binding them with the ribbon. Elizabeth gasped from the whole ordeal, she looked up at me, she was frightened by how quickly this surprise came. Her heart was beating at an erratic pace, and I could smell the musk that came from between her kneeling legs. Elizabeth was as much aroused as she was frightened once she finally took in what exactly happened. I forgot that humans were never fond of surprise that was too immediate, but there were some moments where I forgot she was a human.

I was behind her, caressing her back and massaging her shoulders, Elizabeth's tense body loosened up, a light moan passing through her swollen lips, swollen from her brilliant performance of fellatio.

" I have been wanting to do this for a while now." I whispered in her ear, feeling her body quake against my hands.

I suavely pushed Elizabeth's head to the side, giving me more access to her neck. I kissed where her neck and collarbone met, the taste of her silky smooth flesh was intoxicating, making my attacks on her neck greedier. My greed extended from rough kisses to even ghosting my teeth over her flesh, which was very trying even for someone with my control, but it was all worth hearing Elizabeth's mewling, to see the suspense she felt in her mind.

My tongue traced a pathway to where Elizabeth's throat met her jaw line, as it did, my hands caressed up her soft torso before taking both of her breasts in each of my hands and groping them, feeling her nipples harden against my fingers. To touch her nude body, especially when bound, catalyzed my cock to become hard once again, as it grew, it pressed more and more into her backside, her backside was the best part about her body, it was both nicely rounded and filled out to accommodate the width of her wide hips.

Elizabeth rested her head on my shoulder, exposing her neck even more, but my attention stayed from her neck, kissing upwards towards her ear. I nibbled on it, careful not to allow my teeth to penetrate the skin. Elizabeth was close to panicking from fear of me losing control, I took my lips off her ear, finding this as a grand opportunity.

" Since you didn't enjoy that, I suppose I'll just have to find something that you will." I told her quietly. My hand moved from her right breasts down to her throbbing clitoris, circling it with my fingers. I was right, Elizabeth's tenseness earlier was washed away from her mind the second I touched her clitoris. " Are you enjoying this?" I hissed in her ear. " Tell me."

" Yes." Elizabeth groaned.

" Do you want more my dear?" I asked, chuckling to myself before I stopped my ministrations on her clitoris. " Or should I stop?" The first thought to go through Elizabeth's mind was the resentment for my teasing her.

" No! Don't stop, please!" She begged.

" I'm not convinced." I lied, I was completely convinced, but the angry and desperate reactions she had whenever I teased her were priceless.

" Just fuck me, please." Elizabeth whimpered.

" I can accept that request. All you have to do is get down on all fours." I whispered. Elizabeth obeyed, loving the idea of being fucked from behind like she had fantasized for many years. Elizabeth's elbows propped the front half of her body up since her bound hands could not. Her plump bottom was up at an elevated angle, and just below, the blushing folds of her quim were dripping wet. I grabbed a hold of Elizabeth's hips and slid into her tight aperture. I clenched my teeth, the superb pressure I felt from the small space inside Elizabeth reflected throughout the rest of my body. There were wonderful things to be said about a woman's natural lubricant, the ability to venture into a space far smaller in circumference was a blessing to the male species.

" Aro! You feel so good!" Elizabeth cried out, feeling embarrassed that her mind was already so drunk with pleasure, that there was no filter to block what to say and what to keep in her mind, but, as if keeping silence would do any good for as, that was as long as I was fucking her.

" I figured you enjoyed being filled to the brim, having me lodged deep inside of you, discovering parts of your body you never even contemplated having. You're mine, mine alone." I said snarling. Elizabeth was taken aback by the words I said, apparently, Elizabeth had never expected words like that rolling off my tongue, but all the same, her lusty, vigorous screams signified that she held no objections to the statement.

It was not long before I was near being sent over the edge, I sped up thrusting into Elizabeth's succulent quim, the front of my hips colliding with her buttocks. Elizabeth also was coming close, her quim's erratic, fluctuant pulsations goaded me even closer before finally coming inside of and orgasming Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's only means of not totally collapsing were my hands on her hips, her arms were outstretched in front of her head, and her once strong, stable knees, lost their bend. I gently laid the rest of her body down on the bed and laid beside her, pulling her closer to me with my arms. Elizabeth nestled into my embrace and put her hand on my cheek, smiling and looking me in the eye, her blue eyes had a gleam of satisfaction in them, a satisfaction that only I could give.

I kissed her smiling lips, pulling Elizabeth closer into my embrace so our bodies were a tangled mess of limbs that still tingled with sexual satisfaction. No words were said, it was one of those moments where silence was narrating the story of our lives and demanded not to be interrupted until it finished its excerpt.

" I love you." Elizabeth said when our lips parted.

" I love you as well, Elizabeth." I replied, kissing her gently on the forehead.

There was a loud, aggressive knock at the door. I quickly redressed myself while Elizabeth covered herself with the bedding. I ran promptly to answer the door. It was Caius, holding Anthenadora in his arms. She was horribly wounded.

" Maybe if you could hear anything over your little mating ritual you might have learned that Stefan thought it would be cute to unleash a werewolf in Volterra. We have some executions to issue." Caius snarled, giving his usual glare, but this time, it had more venom. Caius stormed off.

I turned around to see Elizabeth starting to redress herself once Caius left her line of sight. When she was, we hurried down the corridors until we found where the werewolf was being held, it was under the watchful eye of Alec and Jane, both ready to either cause it pain, or rob it of its senses.

" We are sorry to interrupt you Master Aro, but the matters were too important." Jane said.

Elizabeth simply stared at the creature, remembering the first dream she ever had of me, when a werewolf was about to kill her. The werewolf turned back into its human form, it was an ability that was rare, to change willingly. The mangy hairy creature turned into a nude woman with dark hair and a muscled body.

" Cassandra." I spoke bitterly. She looked up at me and her lips curved into a malicious smile, and the slit like pupils of her bright green eyes narrowed.

" So, I assume this will be the last time I meet the kings of the vampires." Cassandra spoke boldly, licking the side of her bleeding lips. " At least I got a half assed attempt at revenge on your member Caius, for killing my mate."

" Your mate almost killed Caius, he had the right of way for revenge." I explained to Cassandra calmly.

" That's because you're trying to commit genocide! You have killed many that I loved dearly, my mother, my mate, and my children!" Cassandra shrieked. Caius, who was without Anthenadora, ran over to Cassandra and slapped her across the jaw.

" You mate almost killed me without reason before our attempts to eliminate filth like you, hold your tongue when speaking to your superiors you mangy bitch!" Caius snarled, his hands wrapped around her throat and strangling her.

Elizabeth was intensely disturbed watching this whole scene, she was still human, her senses didn't separate werewolf from human as much as they would when she was a vampire. As disturbed as Elizabeth was, she couldn't take her eyes off anything. I saw that Marcus noticed how disturbed Elizabeth was.

" Elizabeth, go check on Anthenadora, she'll be wanting some company." Marcus suggested to Elizabeth. Elizabeth nodded and left the scene. I looked over at Marcus and gave him a nod, a simple thank you.

It wasn't long before Caius had killed the werewolf, parts of her body scattered all around the room, soon to be cremated. I knew that I would not be returning to bed with Elizabeth, instead, there would be several more hours of war meetings up ahead. I ordered there to be a constant parole of the estate to make sure Stefan didn't unleash any other horrors. I would need Renata's shielding power, not just for myself, but for Elizabeth too, since Stefan obviously had an interest of harming her as well.


	22. Coibus Awakens

_Author's Note: Sorry for spelling Athenodora's name wrong. I typed something in and then spell check gave me a different name that was all too similar so I assumed I was wrong. This chapter also gets touchy on interpretation of religious subjects, if this would offend you, don't read this chapter._

_*~*Aro*~*_

Walking down the corridors to the assembly hall, all I could hear was Caius' cursing and nagging at me that we needed a meeting. I was doing my best not to listen to him, but even after thousands of years, there was no way anyone could tone out Caius.

" Aro, I do suggest listening to Caius, we have to act now." Marcus said. " He almost lost his mate tonight, I know what kind of toll that takes on someone, you on the other hand, do not." I stopped dead in my tracks, shooting a glare at Marcus. Marcus was the only one in the coven who didn't flinch at my glare, even Caius seemed to be altered at the sight of it. Marcus looked me in the eye, his emotionless, yet challenging glance was enough to unsettle even I. It was as if there was an instinctual premonition that Marcus knew something no one else did, even though I knew everything he did.

" We will act Marcus, do not be under the impression that I am simply just going to sit here and do nothing." I snapped at Marcus, appalled at the fact that Marcus took my silence as inaction. " I too have a mate who is in danger simply because of her association with us, do not claim Athenodora to be the only one."

" Well, your mate wasn't mauled." Caius sneered in a pompous manner as he continued walking without even thinking of stopping along with Marcus and I.  
Marcus and I continued after Caius, whose impatience for his ultimate revenge lead him to run, faster than I had seen him in my thousands of years in his company. Marcus and I, continuing our slower pace, heard a loud slam of doors as Caius entered the assembly hall.

In time, Marcus and I arrived, Caius and other key members of the Volturi were already sitting around a long table. I took my place, Caius on my left, and Marcus on my right.

" Masters, I would advise you to move against Stefan and his forces quickly. I have received word from our allies and scouts that they aren't quite assembled, but are close, all rival conflict between species have been extinguished." Dimitri announced.

" I must agree with you Dimitri, as you know, Cassandra was executed tonight, Stefan knew that we were preparing an army, and he wished to make the first move." Marcus replied.

" Masters, I have also received word that the opposing forces will set their first attack in Rome before summer is over. I believe it's a good idea that we rally our forces and push them back North. Perhaps Germany is a practical goal." Felix added.

" Can we rally our allies before summer ends?" Corin asked, looking at me for an answer.

" We can gather most of them. I will be sending a message to Carlisle to assemble his personal allies to join us. We must remember that this war will not be a long lasting one, especially with General Arietta's forces joined with ours. I see no reason to rally all of our allies." I replied.

" As much as I agree with you Aro, I fear that if we do not, this will be a tragedy all caused by hubris. I must urge you to call all of our allies forth." Marcus warned me.

" Oh please Marcus, you know full well that Stefan's army is composed of inferior races. Trolls, banshees, he might as well have pixies commanding his armies." Caius snarled, I could tell immediately that Caius wanted to quarrel with someone, and since Marcus in many ways was his opposite, who better to have a go at.

" Your mate was almost murdered tonight Master Caius, I would listen well to Marcus. If a werewolf could penetrate the very heart of our empire, who is to say they aren't powerful?" Chelsea said calmly to Caius. Caius, though not her mate, always had a soft spot for Chelsea, more like a relationship one would have with a loving sister, he often would listen to her advice when he refused to even consider the ideas of others.

" You have a point, but I have no evidence showing me that Stefan has any superior races in his armies." Caius retorted to Chelsea's suggestion, as I suspected, softened at her words.

" He does have witches, traitors to their own race." Marcus reminded Caius. " Powerful ones at that. They were able to change the species of a human. I fear that their forces are possibly equal with ours."

" But how? It is universally impossible to temporarily turn one species into another from the use of magic." Alec said, he like many of us were in denial that the impossible could have happened.

" There is a way, but it has long since died out." I said, throwing the idea across the table that the one thing that used to defy all of the laws of the supernatural would return again. It was the only way this could have happened.

" Aro, you cannot be suggesting this, it is ridiculous." Marcus told me, it surprised me that Caius wasn't the first one to the statement. I sharply stood up from my seat and looked upon all of my elite. There was total silence, I allowed it to stay, allow it to seep into their minds.

" My friends, the Coibus is the only thing in our world that could cause such an incident. A creature one could define as a god on earth. But it was slain long ago, long before our kind came to be." I noticed how my guard looked amongst themselves, they were still so skeptical. " There is not much known about the Coibus, but I remember a prophecy written about it on the ruins of a witch's temple. Historia repetit. Iis extincta vivere. History repeats. Those extinct live on. I believe this prophecy could apply to the Coibus."

" What exactly is a Coibus?" Jane asked, staring at me with her eyes expressing the look of intent she always had, whether it would be to find an answer, or to be given and order.

" It was a creature that began roaming the earth long ago. The earliest humans, earlier than vampires, have records of it. Only one can exist at a time, and it has been portrayed in many forms. The tale of Adam and Eve, a world where there was no sin, an impossible world. I have a theory that the serpent in the tale of Adam and Eve is one of its forms. There were serpents before the time of man without limbs, this one had limbs. It is said that the Coibus lead its own demise with changing the world too much, that it finally wished to control the minds of each and every being, but this backfired with humans. You see, in the tale, I believe Eve had to sacrifice an illusion of the perfect world, of peace and harmony, for the sake of freedom and reality. This is why Eve is assumed for sinning, she took away serenity to bring back what was real. Coibus has many other forms, the most common one is a beetle."

" How are we supposed to fight something that can change the rules of the universe?" Renata asked. " If it can change the rules of the universe, our powers might be useless."

" Which is why we need to find it and convince it to join our side." Caius replied to Renata's question. " Also, if its ability to change the rules of the universe are an illusion like the perfect world was, we may have a weapon of our own. Bella Cullen and her shield will stop it if we act first, she can block mental powers."

" This Coibus, whatever it is, seems powerful enough to not be effected by Bella's shield in the slightest. What if this creature has a shield of its own?" Corin said. She had a valid point. " We need to get it on our side before we do anything."

" Problem though my dear Corin, is that we have no means of recognizing it, if it is a shape shifter, it will make finding is virtually impossible." I replied to Corin's plan. Chelsea, who sat next to Corin, put her hand on Corin's.

" It wouldn't serve us, right now, knowing the Coibus' desire to control the world, it would be no ally of ours. Speaking of control, it brings me to a theory, it sounds ridiculous, but could Elizabeth be this Coibus? She does in fact have a dormant power of mind control." Chelsea asked.

" No, she is purely human, Coibus doesn't put itself in a human flesh." Marcus answered. " But since her power will make her weaker than others of our kind, there is something else at work, but nothing near the power of the Coibus. Also, if she were the Coibus, Aro would be the last person she would have romantic affairs with. She wouldn't want her plans foiled."

" Wait, hold on. Now let us all think about this for a moment. If Stefan had something as powerful as this Coibus thing you all are worrying about, why hasn't he unleashed it?" Felix asked us all. It caught all of our attentions. " Why hasn't this Coibus changed all our species, why hasn't it altered reality. I'll tell you why, it is weak, weak enough for an army to kill."

"That's why it goes for Stefan's army! For protection, so it can develop. My dear Felix you are a genius. It goes for an army of inferior races so none of the higher races of creatures can identify it. As Marcus said before, it would not try coming into contact with our coven since I could see its thoughts." I said, gleeful to having this puzzle solved. This war would not last if we attacked quickly. " We will allow Stefan's army to march to Rome, and while they do, the Coibus will be vulnerable. As my elite, you will be sent to kill it, and the rest will be able to keep Stefan's forces at bay. Is this understood?" I ordered my guard.

" Yes Master Aro." The elites replied in unison. I smiled and gestured to the door, dismissing them all. Marcus and Caius remained seated.

" So, Aro, how exactly are we going to keep our mates safe during this battle?" Caius asked.

" I think I just got an idea how, but, it will not be a very pleasant plan to execute." I replied to Caius. " Corin will not be off to kill the Coibus, instead, she will be busy keeping our mates content." I told Marcus.

" Content, content with what?" Caius asked.

" I require that Athenodora and Elizabeth are kept heavily guarded and safe. Which might means, they may have to remain in our manor for a few months, maybe even years. Knowing that they both would find each day grow more tedious than the next, we will have to keep them contained and content." I revealed my plan.

" Are you suggesting that you lock them in a heavily guarded room for extensive periods of time?" Marcus asked, absolutely appalled. I nodded. " They are not dogs Aro. Caius, you must agree with me." Marcus said, turning to Caius in support, but it was all in vain.

" I'm not so sure I agree with you Marcus. Aro does have a brilliant plan to keep our mates safe." Caius replied to Marcus in a smug manner. " Besides, it won't do them any harm now will it?"

" Fine, lock your women in a room like animals, but don't come asking me for help when they are after your heads." Marcus said calmly before exiting the assembly hall without another word, not even another glance.

" At least you see that this could be the only way for keeping our mates off the battlefield, my dear Caius." I told Caius, still looking out the door which Marcus had previously exited. " It is a shame it must come to this, but these are perilous times and we have little idea of what we're up against."

" I thought we did know." Caius replied, looking confused.

" I only put my guard under that impression so there is no fear among them. We have no idea when the Coibus will wake from its dormancy, it could be today, it could be a thousand years from now. All I know is that no matter how far it will be from return, it has been used against us, and will be used against us in the future." I said. " You know this could possibly be the end of us, but if that's the case, it is the end of all things."

" I suppose you're right. So in reality, it seems that Stefan is only part of the problem." Caius muttered.

" Yes." I said. I was done with talking about wars to be fought and won, I would rather have a lighter subject come up. " Should we check on Athenodora?" I asked. Caius nodded and we proceeded to Caius' chambers.

_*~*Elizabeth*~*_

" I am sorry I can't do anything medical." I told Athenodora, who was lying down in her bed. She smiled and grabbed my hand gently, her dark red eyes looking at me, some out of appreciation, some out of hunger.

" I will heal quickly, a werewolf's attack takes more of a toll than other species. If I don't drink something soon I'll be just about rabid." Athenodora told me. I looked at her, irrationally frightened that I would be her next meal. Athenodora laughed and freed my hand from her grasp. " Don't worry, if I drank from you, Aro would kill me without second thought."

" Sorry, it's just the whole natural predator prey thing, human things I suppose." I told Athenodora. " My god I'm exhausted. Just a few hours ago, I was just about certain I wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight."

" It's been thousands of years since I've slept. I have forgotten what it's like." Athenodora said, closing her eyes as if she were try to recollect the sensation of sleep.  
Aro and Caius entered the chamber. Caius strode swiftly over to his wife, kissing her on the lips and stroking her cracked cheeks. I watched, amazed at how Caius was so tender with his wife despite his, well the only way to explain it would him being Caius to be perfectly honest with you.

" How did it go?" I asked Aro as he came up to me from behind and put his arms around my waist.

" It went well." Aro answered me. His arms let go of me, before I could ask why, he lifted me up in his arms. " My dear, you're completely exhausted. Caius, I will meet with you again shortly, send someone to fetch Marcus while I am gone." Aro said before carrying me back to our chambers and laying me down on the bed.

I looked up at him and smiled, the feeling of a warm, welcoming bed was just about necessary after all that happened tonight. Aro bent down to kiss me on the lips, a kiss that was intended to be a simple peck. A peck had transformed to Aro climbing on top of me. My arms slung around his neck as he supported my head with one hand, and spread my thighs apart with another. He stopped before any thoughts of arousal could control him. Aro laid me back down, putting a loose stand of hair behind my ear and caressing my cheek.

" Rest well my love." Aro said softly, giving me a kiss on the cheek before departing. I watched him leave. I curled up, wishing that Aro was here beside me, but I knew better than to complain, he had far more important things to attend to.

_Author's Note: Yeah, so I've been on Wikipedia looking for facts about these characters and I discovered that after Marcus' mate was killed, the other two mates were pretty much locked in a tower. I thought about whether I should put something like that in or not, and I thought I should to show the somewhat crueler, sexist side of the Volturi (or at least sexist when it comes to the head honcho's girls.) Also why I am pretty much still glorifying Bella, even though I despise her character is because well her character is useful in these situations and I'm not going to replace or get rid of characters just because I hate them (no matter how much they suck.)_


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